A Ukrainian court has sentenced Archpriest Yevhen Koshelnik, a priest of the Vinnytsia diocese of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), to five years in prison for publications on the Internet, Verkhovna Rada MP Artem Dmytruk, who defends the interests of the UOC, has said.
The Security Service of Ukraine said earlier that a criminal case had been opened against the rector of one of the UOC churches in the Vinnytsia region for his support of the Russian special military operation.
“The priest of the Vinnytsia diocese of the UOC Archpriest Yevhen Koshelnik was sentenced to five years in prison for posts in Telegram-channel. The decision was taken today Kalinovsky district court”, – wrote Artem Dmytruk in Telegram-channel.
He specified that the priest is the rector of the temple of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Lyulintsy in Vinnytsia region. In the courtroom, the bishop was taken into custody and taken to the detention centre, where he will be held until the verdict comes into force, the MP added.
“By the way, the verdict was announced on the batyushka’s birthday, he turned 50. I believe that every such decision is a personal crime (Volodymyr – ed.) Zelenskyy”, – said Dmytruk.
We shall remind you that earlier the Union of Orthodox Journalists said that officers of the Security Service of Ukraine detained archpriest of the Khustka diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Ioan Rozman in the Transcarpathian region and took him to an unknown destination.
