Man Who Robbed Churches in Western Ukraine Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison
A 39-year-old resident of the Poltava Oblast stole ancient church books, icons, cash from safes and money boxes from churches in the villages of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast from April 2009 to May 2010.
The thief stole nearly thirty antique Gospels and other church items of considerable historic, cultural and artistic value. Some of them are 350-400 years old.
It was established that the thief carefully planned his crimes and studied the specificities of the churches in advance. He traveled by bicycle. Villagers did not pay attention to a stranger on a bike. He spent nights in the woods or beside rivers. He also travelled by train.
It was established that he sold most of the shrines to private collectors via the Internet.
After the completion of the pre-trial investigation, the leadership of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast decided to return to the church communities 13 church books which were found. The rest of them are missing. Probably, they are now part of private collections.
The Kalush City District Court of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast sentenced the man to 7 years of imprisonment according to Part 3 and 4 of Article 185 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, Ostro.org reported.
