The OCU has once again been accused of trading "sacred offices" to avoid mobilization

A court in Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, has sentenced Taras Pavlishak-Leitnar, a native of Lviv Oblast, who admitted to purchasing church documents in order to evade mobilization. According to Zaxid.net, the man obtained a deacon’s certificate and a letter of appointment, which allegedly confirmed his membership in the clergy of the Uzhhorod-Khust Diocese of the OCU.

According to the case file, Pavlyshak-Leitnar, who previously worked as a security guard and lived in Stare Selo, paid a bribe of $1,000 through an intermediary to obtain the church documents. These documents were intended to confirm his status as a clergyman and, as alleged, were used to evade mobilization into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The publication notes that the man continued to be listed as a deacon on the official website of the Holy Cross Monastery near Uzhhorod. The date of his alleged “ordination” was listed as April 29, 2024.

The investigation also established that after receiving the documents, Pavlishak-Leitnar attempted to use the scheme for financial gain. In May 2024, he agreed with another conscript to prepare a similar set of documents for $2,000, intending to keep half of the amount for himself as a fee.

The court found the man guilty and sentenced him to five years in prison. However, the actual prison term was replaced with a two-year probation period after the defendant repented and donated 150,000 hryvnias to the army.

As a reminder, we previously reported that the Ivano-Frankivsk City Court issued an arrest warrant for Kirill Mykhailiuk, head of the Uzhhorod-Khust Diocese of the OCU, who is suspected of organizing a large-scale scheme to issue fake certificates of ordination to the diaconate, which likely allowed men subject to military service to evade mobilization. The defendant has been ordered to be held in custody for 60 days, with the possibility of posting bail.