Wife of UOC priest sentenced to 5 years for correspondence in Telegram

The Vilnyansky District Court of Zaporizhzhia region found the wife of a priest of the Zaporizhzhia Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church guilty of justifying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and glorifying its participants. The reason for this decision was the woman’s correspondence in Telegram, where she allegedly distributed video materials of the relevant content in private correspondence. This is stated in the court decision published on the website of the Unified Register of Court Decisions.

«A citizen of Ukraine, being a public figure — the priest’s wife of the religious community of all saints in the Russian land who sifted the Zaporizhzhya and Melitopol diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the name of the supreme apostles, with the purpose of implementing a criminal intent aimed at the targeted expression of her views, acting deliberately, carried out the distribution of material to 4 users of the Telegram messenger group chat, which contains a justification, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which began in 2014, a justification of the temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine, as well as the glorification of persons who carried out the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which began in 2014, thereby distributing such material,» — the court decision says.

As a result of the investigation, the court sentenced the woman to 5 years in prison, but given the circumstances of her guilty plea and cooperation with the investigation, she was released from prison and her sentence was suspended for 1 year.

As reported, the Tyachiv District Court found guilty and sentenced a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Mykhailo Medulich, to one year of suspended imprisonment. The clergyman is accused of inciting religious hatred based on posts he made on his Facebook page.