UOC-MP Community in Kyiv Sues Active Member of Svoboda

A community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate in Kyiv sued an activist of the association Svoboda , Serhii Akseniuk, who is accused of attacking a tent chapel in Victory Park. Today, a court session was to be held in the Darnytsia Court, but it was postponed till August 1.

According to the press secretary of the Dniprovska Public Prosecutor’s Office of Kyiv, Yulia Mykhailiuk, the decision to postpone the session was made at the request of the lawyer of the accused.

According to a report of Orthodoxy in Ukraine, on May 4, 30 young people broke the fence and broke into the Church of All the Holy Warriors carrying spades and axes. According to the report, they used tear gas against the priest and smashed up church property.

According to the press service of Svoboda, the neighborhood residents were indignant and “dismantled the fence in Victory Park which was illegally” erected in the place of the envisaged illegal construction.

After Serhii Akseniuk was summoned to the investigation officer,  the head of the Kyiv branch of Svoboda, Andrii Illienko, said that he views the procedures instituted against Svoboda members as efforts to reduce the street activity of the organization.

“The police, Public Prosecutor’s Office and other law enforcement bodies should be busy punishing illegal developers, particularly the Moscow Patriarchate which seized a very large part of the park without any documents. It is assumed that the Moscow Church will build a commercial property in this place. However, no one disturbs the developers as they are backed by their great patrons from the Party of Regions and high ranking bandits. Instead, they intimidate and institute proceedings against people who struggle for the living space of Kyivans and against violations of the law in the city.”