UOC priest is tried in Cherkasy region for “communist” pictures in social networks

The Smelyansky District Prosecutor’s Office of Cherkasy region has sent to court an indictment against a 51-year-old priest of the Cherkasy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. According to the prosecutors, the priest distributed graphic images of communist content on social media. This was reported by the official website of the Cherkasy Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

“According to the investigation, the 51-year-old rector of the Holy Trinity Parish of the Cherkasy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, having pro-Russian views, using his own account on the Odnoklassniki social network, distributed graphic images, the content of which, according to the conclusion of a forensic art examination, contains symbols of the communist totalitarian regime and images of National Socialist (Nazi) symbols. In addition, the accused distributed videos in which he justified and recognized as legitimate the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which began in 2014. He has now been imposed a measure of restraint in the form of house arrest. If proven guilty, the man faces a sentence of imprisonment for a term of five to eight years, with or without confiscation of property,” — the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Earlier, we reported that the regional publication Kremenchuk Operativny organized harassment of a local priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church through a repost on Facebook. The site’s editors did not like the fact that the UOC priest shared on his page a post by MP Artem Dmytruk, in which the latter criticized Vladimir Zelensky for interfering in the affairs of the Church. Kremenchuk Operatyvny called on the SBU to deal with the clergyman.