OCU cleric sued for inciting hatred against UOC

On October 11, 2024, the lawyer of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, filed a statement with the SBU Investigation Department in Kyiv and Kyiv region regarding the OCU cleric Oleksiy Ivanov. The UOC lawyer accused the OCU representative of justifying Russian aggression and inciting religious hatred. Archpriest Nikita Chekman wrote about this on his Telegram channel.

It is reported that on October 6, 2024, Ivanov made provocative statements in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Novosilky, Kyiv region, which was previously seized by supporters of the OCU. During his speech, he called the believers and representatives of the UOC “enemies of humanity” and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church “so-called”.

«Every day we must not forget that in our country we are at war not only with the enemy in Russia, with Russia, which is waging war on us, but the enemy is here inside, at home, of which there are many and most importantly… later, maybe you will get to know me a little more, separately, or somehow, I may tell you something myself, but I know better than anyone what the Russian Orthodox Church is in all its manifestations. The Ukrainian, so-called Orthodox Church, under the leadership of the so-called Moscow, what’s-his-name, Onufriy-they are the worst enemies of all humanity around the world,» Ivanov said.

Thus, the statements of the OCU cleric can be interpreted as an attempt to present Russian aggression against Ukraine as an internal civil conflict. In this regard, his actions fall under Part 1 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (justification, recognition of the legitimacy and denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation).

In addition, Ivanov’s statements contain signs of incitement to religious hatred and enmity, which qualify under Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (intentional actions aimed at inciting religious hatred and insulting the feelings of citizens on the basis of their religious beliefs).

Earlier, we reported that a criminal case was opened against the controversial Crimean Tatar blogger and LGBT rights activist Ayder Muzhdabaev for inciting religious hatred against the clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This decision was made on September 24, 2024, by the investigating judge of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv in response to a complaint from representatives of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.