Police ignore investigation against OCU 'chaplain' who seizes UOC churches in Bukovyna

Law enforcement agencies are not investigating the criminal activities of the OCU “chaplain” Roman Hryshchuk, who is involved in organizing the seizure of churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Bukovyna. A complaint was filed against Hryshchuk demanding that he be held accountable for inciting religious hatred against UOC believers, but the police are sabotaging the relevant measures in this direction. This was reported by the lawyer of the UOC, Archpriest Nikita Chekman.

It is reported that in one of his publications on Facebook, the “chaplain” of the OCU Grishchuk wrote: “The UOC is the occupiers. An undercover branch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Putin’s hybrid army, sabotage groups, propaganda machine: 100 generals, 9,000 officers, 100,000 privates and a million sincerely and naively believing women, the elderly and children whom they drive before them as human shields! The tasks of the UOC are clear and effective: to demotivate the enemy (you and me) to resist, to denationalize (deprive of identity), to plant hostile narratives, to reconnoiter and transmit data, to identify and form lists of patriots, to sow disbelief and doubt in the need to resist the occupation, to present the occupation authorities as God-given, to raise new cannon fodder for the orcs.”

Based on this publication of the “chaplain”, on February 10, 2025, a statement was filed against him with law enforcement agencies about his committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (incitement to hatred). However, to date, the investigating authorities have not entered the information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations, and in this regard, on February 13, 2025, a complaint was filed with the court against the inaction of police investigators.