"About 90% of the hierarchy of the UOC-MP could potentially face accountability under various articles of the Criminal Code, including inciting religious hostility, justifying Russian aggression, and collaborationism," said Yuriy Chornomorets, a well-known religious expert, in an interview with the Spiritual Front.
"The UOC-MP reacts very hysterically when someone says, 'You have violated the law. You are guilty. Your leaders are responsible.' They have a historical attitude towards this. They immediately cry out, 'Persecution, persecution,'" he noted.
Chornomorets pointed out that Metropolitan Ioasaf Huben, against whom a criminal case was initiated, initially also spoke of persecution but later acknowledged his guilt:
"Here is your bishop Ioasaf, the right-hand man of Metropolitan Antony (Pakanych), his trusted person during the elections in 2014. This metropolitan... actually agreed with the verdict, recognizing it as fair and admitting his guilt. And whether the others like it or not, their guilt will be fully proven. I believe this process should continue."
"In my opinion, about 90% of their hierarchy fall under various articles of the criminal code, ranging from inciting religious hostility to justifying Russian aggression, collaborationism, and so on. And I consider this their historical catastrophe. And why people behave as if nothing has happened is strange to me. This is the second time I have witnessed such a phenomenon in my life. The first time was with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was already 1991, and it was clear that everything was falling apart, yet people continued publishing extensive discussions in their own newspapers about the measure of democracy within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and so on. I looked at those newspapers and thought, 'My God, in what world do you live? People are simply laughing at you. You are no longer needed. You are already a laughingstock to everyone.' But people continued to live in some strange world. And now I see it again. People don't realize that they are already living in a different place, I don't know... after the August coup. A law banning them should have already been signed, just like they once banned the Communist Party," added Yuriy Chornomorets.