Court arrests 4 members of Moscow-linked church's "media wing" for working for FSB

The court has arrested four participants in a criminal organisation that was inciting religious hostility.

Source: Kyiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office; Ukrainska Pravda source

Details: The Solomianskyi District Court chose preventive measures in the form of pretrial detention without bail for four members of the criminal organisation.

Among them was the organiser’s right-hand man, who was responsible for the editorial policy of the media wing of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) (a Ukrainska Pravda source states that this is the priest Serhii Chertylin). He gave instructions to the authors of publications, determined the manner in which information was to be presented, and controlled the content.

Two more individuals were responsible for editing and approving publications. The fourth had little directorial input and wrote articles on assigned topics.

It is noted that ten other participants were served with notices of suspicion under established protocols, but as they are outside of the country, they have been put on the wanted list. It has been decided in absentia that these defendants are to be jailed pending trial.

Background:

• Law enforcement officials announced the uncovering and neutralisation of the so-called media wing of the UOC-MP as a criminal organisation intent on inciting religious hostility.
• The criminals churned out and disseminated pro-Kremlin narratives and provocative messages aimed at destabilising the socio-political situation and fuelling religious hatred in Ukraine.
• The group consisted of 14 participants, four of whom were key figures, and they were arrested. Among them was one of the leaders of the capital's UOC-MP cathedral, who was found to be part of the Russian special services' intelligence apparatus. Ukrainska Pravda sources say that the person in question is the priest Serhii Chertylin.

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