The court ordered law enforcement agencies to launch an investigation into the head of the Cherkasy diocese of the OCU

The court ordered law enforcement agencies to launch an investigation into Ivan Yaryomenko, head of the Cherkasy branch of the OCU. The reason for this decision was Yaryomenko’s statements, which fall under the article on inciting religious enmity and hatred. This was reported by the press service of the UOC.

It is noted that on the eve of Easter, Yaromenko promised to take control of the Andriivsky Bishop’s Court of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Cherkasy, which was seized on May 6, 2025.

Human rights activists see this statement by the OCU figure as a violation of Article 161 of the Criminal Code (intentional actions aimed at inciting religious enmity and hatred).

Thus, representatives of the Cherkasy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church filed a report on the aforementioned crime, but law enforcement officials did not respond to it. In this regard, the UOC’s defense appealed to the court.

As a result of the case, the court ruled to oblige the Cherkasy police to open proceedings against Yaremenko.

Earlier, the Cherkasy Diocese of the OCU published a statement in which it argued its claims to the churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church within the Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC, in particular, the Church of the Nativity of Christ and the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called in Cherkasy. The OCU claims that the communities of these churches allegedly voted independently to transfer to their structure, and that the head of the Cherkasy diocese of the UOC, Metropolitan Theodosius (Snigirov), has no right to represent the canonical Church in the region, since he is not listed as its head in the Unified State Register of Organizations and Enterprises.