The case against the archimandrite of the UOC-MP, accused of state treason, has been referred to court. Prosecutors of the Chernivtsi Regional Prosecutor's Office have submitted the indictment against the archimandrite of the UOC-MP, who was the prior of the Holy Dormition Cathedral of the Kherson Diocese until the liberation of Kherson.
This information is reported by the press service of the Chernivtsi Regional Prosecutor's Office.
The clergyman of the UOC-MP is accused of state treason and aiding the aggressor state (Part 2 of Article 111, Part 1 of Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Additionally, as part of the criminal proceedings, his property has been seized. Among the seized real estate properties are an apartment in the Pechersk district of Kyiv, a residential house in the Kherson region, and a vehicle.
According to the investigation, the archimandrite provided ideological support to the Russian Federation during the occupation of the Kherson region. In his sermons, he praised representatives of the occupation regime and personally initiated the transfer of premises and property seized from Ukrainian citizens and private joint-stock companies for the service of the cathedral by the self-proclaimed authorities.
Furthermore, on September 30, 2022, the cleric participated in ceremonies in the Georgievsky Hall of the Kremlin on the occasion of the so-called accession of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, thus confirming his support for the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories.
A few days before the liberation of Kherson, the prior fled to the temporarily occupied territory. Since December 2022, he has been under sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
Pre-trial investigation in the mentioned case was conducted by the investigators of the SBU in the Chernivtsi region under the operational support of the SBU in the Kherson region.