A criminal case has been reopened against the head of the Sumy diocese of the UOC

On August 28, 2024, the Sumy Court of Appeal satisfied the complaint of the prosecutor of the Sumy Regional Prosecutor’s Office and reopened criminal proceedings against Metropolitan Yevlogy (Hutchenko), the administrator of the Sumy diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The previous criminal proceedings were closed in May 2024, which was dissatisfied with the prosecution. This is reported by the regional edition of Sumy Post.

“During the preparatory session, the defendant’s counsel appealed to the court with a motion to close the criminal proceedings because of the fact that allegedly the announcement of the completion of the pre-trial investigation, familiarization with the materials of the proceedings and the sending of the indictment in the criminal proceedings took place in violation of the terms. By the decision of the Zarechny District Court of Sumy dated 10.05.2024 the criminal proceedings were closed. The prosecutor’s office strongly disagreed with this decision and appealed it to the court of appeal. The Court of Appeal agreed with the arguments of the prosecutor. Therefore, a new consideration in the court of first instance by a different composition of the court is appointed,” – stated in the message.

We will remind, on May 10, 2024 Zarechny city court of Sumy closed the criminal proceedings initiated by the Security Service of Ukraine against the manager of the Sumy diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan of Sumy and Akhtyrsky Evlogy (Gutchenko). The bishop was accused of violating equal rights of citizens because of their religious beliefs.