Metropolitan Jonathan Yeleckykh of Tulchyn and Bratslav of the UOC-MP, who was convicted in Ukraine, has been released and will soon arrive in Moscow.
According to Interfax, this was reported on Saturday by the website of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.
"The release of the Metropolitan became possible due to the petitions of Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church," the report reads. "The hierarch will arrive in Moscow in the near future."
On June 18, the Vinnytsia Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the court of first instance, which sentenced Metropolitan Jonathan Yeleckykh of Tulchyn of the UOC-MP to 5 years in prison with confiscation of property for justifying, recognizing the legitimacy, and denying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and glorifying its participants.
On April 10, Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchyn of the UOC-MP wrote a statement with his own hand to be exchanged for the Ukrainian military but later changed his mind. He submitted another statement to the court, refusing to be exchanged as a prisoner of war.