Lawyer of Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC detained by TCC and SBU after court

In Cherkasy, on November 4, 2025, employees of the Territorial Recruitment Center (TCC) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained Igor Golubchik, a lawyer of the local diocese of the UOC. The incident, which the source describes as a kidnapping, occurred near the court building immediately after a hearing on the case of the utility debt of St. Michael’s Cathedral.

According to the Dozor Telegram channel, that day the court was considering a lawsuit filed by Cherkasyenergozbut LLC to recover a debt of UAH 324,358.52 from the Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC. According to the source, the debt accumulated during the time when the cathedral taken from the UOC was used by representatives of the OCU without paying for utilities. The lawsuit was filed against the diocese of the UOC, as it remains the legal owner of the church according to the documents.

It is noted that the city authorities and the plaintiff tried to conduct the trial in a «simplified proceeding», citing the «insignificance of the case». However, it was lawyer Igor Golubchik who achieved the appointment of a comprehensive trial. The source claims that during such a trial, the court would have been forced to publicly confirm the ownership of the cathedral by the UOC diocese. «This truth has become threatening both for the looters of the OCU and for the local SBU, which took part in the seizure,» the report says.

According to the channel, the lawyer was mobilized under the direct supervision of the head of the «religious department» of the local SBU office, surnamed Slabko. It is also reported that the detention was carried out by the same CCC employees who in February 2025 attempted to detain another cleric and the head of the diocesan legal department.

Earlier, right-wing extremist Dmitry Korchinsky admitted that his organization was directly involved in the seizure of parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in favor of the OCU in the Cherkasy region. Korchinsky’s confession indicates that the change in the confessional affiliation of UOC parishes in the region is not due to the will of the religious communities themselves, but to the actions of activists.