Court extends night house arrest for Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy

On November 29, 2024, the Sosnovsky District Court of Cherkasy held a regular hearing in one of the criminal proceedings opened against the hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv. The court ruled to extend the nightly house arrest of the head of the Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC for another 60 days. This is reported by Suspilne.Cherkasy.

“On December 2, the term of the preventive measure expires. Since the risks mentioned earlier continue to exist, we ask to extend the term of the preventive measure, namely, night house arrest from 22:00 to 6:00,” — prosecutor Kateryna Kostenko said during the meeting.

In turn, the Metropolitan’s lawyer asked the prosecution to provide evidence that his client has Ukrainophobic views. As for the bracelet, he believes that by fulfilling all his procedural duties, the Metropolitan proved that he did not need the electronic bracelet. Therefore, in the opinion of the bishop’s defense, it will be enough to apply a preventive measure in the form of a personal commitment without an electronic bracelet. In addition, the lawyer asked to change the prosecutor in the case.

During the meeting, Metropolitan Theodosius himself also spoke. The bishop believes that the accusations of “Ukrainophobia” against him are groundless. “As for the negative attitude towards the Ukrainian authorities, this is not a violation of the law. And every citizen can treat it as they wish. As for the Ukrainophobic attitude towards the Ukrainian people, I believe that this is an insulting statement by the prosecutor against me,” — added the Metropolitan.

After the deliberations, the court decided to dismiss the application of Yudin’s defense counsel to recuse the prosecutor. The court also extended the nightly house arrest for the defendant Denis Snigirev for 60 days — until January 27 and allowed him to remove his electronic bracelet.