Patriarch Filaret appeals to president with request for lawsuits against former politicians to be objective

On behalf of the church, Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) addressed President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych today concerning a number of lawsuits in which the defendants are politicians and former senior officials.

In his address on the official site of the UOC-KP, the patriarch called “for the investigation and litigation in a number of the mentioned and other high-profile cases to be objective to the utmost and for there to be no reason to doubt their conclusions.”

The head of the UOC-KP explained that recently more and more people have been asking the patriarch to share with the president through a letter the thoughts of the church about the lawsuits in which the defendants are former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, former Minister Bohdan Danylyshyn, Yuriy Lutsenko, Heorhiy Filipchuk, former acting Minister Valeriy Ivashchenko, Deputy Minister Eugene Korniychuk, former chairman of the Crimean parliament Anatoliy Gritsenko, former Chairman of State Customs Anatoly Makarenko, Deputy Chief of Naftogaz Ukraine Ihor Didenko, and others. As explained in the appeal, the public’s attention is closely drawn to the investigation and judicial processes.

“The duty of the church is to act on the side of justice, but at the same call for mercy, ‘because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment’ (James 2:13),” said Patriarch Filaret.

Patriarch Filaret believes that legal proceedings ought to be “indicators of the maturity of the Ukrainian state and its achievements in establishing the supremacy of law.”