Heads of Ukrainian Churches Ask President Yanukovych to Release Tymoshenko

The heads of the Ukrainian Churches addressed President Viktor Yanukovych with a request to release the leader of the opposition, ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The letter of the ministers was read out by the head of the Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Spirituality, Volodymyr Yavorivskyi, at a press conference today, reported the website of Batkivshchyna.

“The address was signed by representatives of the Christian denominations included in the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches. They are authoritative and recognized persons representing millions of people,” he said.

Yavorivskyi noted that “the ministers are throwing to the president a buoy to let him save the image of the country by releasing Tymoshenko from prison.”

The letter was signed by Patriarch Filaret of UOC-Kyivan Patriarchate, Patriarch Sviatoslav of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Administrator of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, Markian Trofymiak, Viacheslav Nesteruk of  the Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians Baptists, Senior Bishop Mykhailo Panochko of the Union of Churches of Christians of Evangelical Faith of Ukraine, Senior Bishop Leonid Padun of the Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church, Metropolitan Mefodii of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.