In Lviv, a court sentenced a deacon of the OCU to 15 years in prison for abusing his daughter

The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Lviv handed down a sentence to 47-year-old Andriy Burdyk, a deacon at one of the OCU’s monasteries. The offender was sentenced to the maximum term—15 years in prison—for systematic abuse, the sexual exploitation of his own minor daughter, and the production and possession of child pornography. This was reported by the “ ” publication on Zaxid.net.

According to the investigation, the crimes were committed between 2009 and 2013, when the girl was between 8 and 12 years old. The convicted man systematically committed acts of a sexual nature against the child and forced her to participate in pornographic filming. In total, more than 190 files featuring his daughter, as well as about half a million other prohibited materials, were found on storage devices seized from the perpetrator.

The horrific details of the case came to light years later: after the girl contacted law enforcement in 2021, the investigation revealed that her father not only abused her at home but also took her to the woods for filming. ““The man did not express even the slightest remorse for his actions,” emphasized the victim’s attorney, Oleg Ivanov. In addition to the prison sentence, the court granted the girl’s civil claim for compensation for emotional distress in the amount of 1.5 million hryvnias. The offender’s name will be entered into the Unified Register of Persons Convicted of Crimes Against the Sexual Freedom and Integrity of Minors.

As a reminder, representatives of the OCU report a growing shortage of personnel and a reluctance among graduates of theological institutions to take holy orders. The organization is facing a shortage of clergy capable of replacing the older generation, which is retiring.