The summer 2010 explosion in a Zaporizhia church was an act of sacristans' revenge upon the church superior who had accused them of stealing church money, head of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's Main Investigative Department Vasily Farinnik said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda in the Ukraine newspaper published on Thursday.
"The explosion was an act of revenge upon the church superior. The guys saw how much money he was making and they were paid only 400 hryvnias per month," he said.
The sacristans had their own covert incomes, "they blessed rings and icons for less money," he said. "The church superior learned about that and accused them of stealing church money. They started planning revenge," he said.
A homemade bomb went off in the Holy Protection Church of Zaporizhia on July 28, 2010. Nine people were hurt, and an elderly nun died at a hospital.
A first degree murder case was opened, and three suspects, among them two sacristans of the church, were taken into custody.
The pre-trial hearing was held on January 10, 2011, and the bill of indictment was read out on January 28.