Suspended Prison Sentence Passed Upon Separatist Priest Dymytrii Sydor

Father Dymytrii Sydor, head of the “Soim of the Carpathian Rusyns” and priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, was sentenced to three years of imprisonment with a respite of two years for the encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Fr. Sydor is also obliged to pay a penalty of UAH 1,840, reported the newspaper Silver Land.

On March 19, the final court session was held in the criminal Case 499 which proceeding was instituted by the Security Service of Ukraine several years ago according to Part 1 of Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Encroachment on the Territorial Integrity of Ukraine.”

During the session, a number of incidents occurred, in particular, a “rusyn,” Yurii Chori, was taken out of the hall by force for obstructing the work of the court and, later, policemen had to protect a correspondent of the Weekly Mirror Ukraine newspaper, Yaroslav Halas, from other “rusyns” who attacked him when he attempted to take a picture of the priest.

The legal proceedings were instituted by the security service on December 5, 2008. A year later, the first hearing was held on the matter. The priest did not plead guilty. He and other leaders of the Rusyn movement approached Russia with a request to recognize their independence from Ukraine. Despite the recognizance not to leave, Fr. Sydor stated the right to armed resistance against the Ukrainian authorities. The priest also took another opportunity to become a deputy.