Resident of Rivne Region Fined for Critical Facebook Posts about the OCU

A resident of Rivne Region was found guilty of publishing posts that, according to the court, insulted supporters of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and incited religious hatred. According to court documents, the man published several Facebook posts containing critical remarks about the OCU and its head, Epiphaniy Dumenko. The verdict stated that the posts included “calls to condemn the actions of Metropolitan Epiphaniy, humiliation of OCU believers,” and offensive language directed at the structure itself. This was reported by Rivne Media.

One example cited was a December 14 post titled “The SSU and GPU confirmed that the UOC is not a ‘Moscow Church,’” which, according to the prosecution, contained “humiliation of the religious beliefs of individuals who support the OCU.”

Another post from April 2025 was titled “If the OCU is the historical true Church in Ukraine, then why does it seize churches and monasteries?” According to the verdict, this post contained “statements aimed at inciting religious hatred, humiliating OCU parishioners, promoting the exclusivity of the UOC, and offensive characterizations of the OCU.”

Based on these actions, the man was charged under Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — “violation of the equality of citizens based on their religious beliefs” — and was fined 3,400 UAH.

It is also worth noting that OCU supporter and media lobbyist, religious scholar and member of the “Sofiyske Brotherhood” Yuriy Chornomorets, who was also one of the “experts” of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience that investigated ties between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and Russia in 2023, resorted to obscene language against the UOC on social media. In a discussion with Abbess Seraphima (Shevchyk), head of the UOC Synodal Department “Church and Culture,” Chornomorets referred to UOC clergy and faithful as a “gang,” “b*tches,” and “wh*res.”