Abbot of Moscow-backed church distributed pro-Kremlin leaflets to parishioners in Zhytomyr Oblast

In Zhytomyr Oblast, the abbot of the church of the Ovruch-Korosten diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) has been informed of the suspicion of inciting religious hatred.

Source: the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU)

Quote: "The Security Service, along with the National Police, collected evidence against the abbot of the church of the Ovruch-Korosten diocese of the UOC-MP, who incited religious hatred.

The investigation found out that the cleric massively distributed pro-Kremlin leaflets and brochures among priests and parishioners of the religious community in Zhytomyr Oblast.

In those printed materials, the war in Ukraine is portrayed as an "internal civil conflict", and the fact of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine is denied.

In addition, it is reported that the content of the printed materials offended the religious feelings of Ukrainians, humiliated the views of believers of other faiths and formed hostile sentiments towards them.

It was established that the cleric distributed hostile imagery at the direction of his metropolitan, to whom the SSU had already reported suspicion of crimes against Ukraine.

Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine discovered pro-Russian campaign materials during security measures in spring 2022 and searches on the territory of the local diocese of the UOC-MP in June this year.

The examinations confirmed that the seized materials contain provocative statements about priests, believers and supporters of other confessions.

Additionally, the content of some leaflets popularised the Kremlin's "view" on the history of Ukrainian statehood.

Based on the collected evidence, the abbot of the church was notified of suspicion under Part 2 of Art. 28 and Part 2 of Art. 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (deliberate actions aimed at inciting national and religious hatred, humiliation of national honour, dignity and insult to the feelings of citizens in connection with their religious beliefs committed by an official and by prior conspiracy by a group of persons).

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