Head of the UOC Law Department asks to pray for 20 priests called in to SBU

Head of the UOC Law Department Protopriest Alexander Bakhov

The head of the UOC Legal Department, Protopriest Alexander Bakhov, believes that simultaneous summoning of 20 people for interrogation is a way of psychological pressure. He wrote about it on his FB page.

“Today, 20 priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been called in for questioning by the SBU Office in Rovno region. The investigator called the fathers for 10 am but, probably, it should be some kind of “collective” interrogation because I can’t think of another explanation for how else 20 people can be interrogated at the same time?”

He added, "Just do not fancy that 20 investigators are waiting for them there."

Protopriest Alexander Bakhov explained, “By the way, this is a method of psychological pressure: they call a person for interrogation and make them wait for a couple of hours for the investigator to call the next. There are 20 people waiting so they will probably be kept there until night?”

According to him, the interrogation should take place as part of the investigation of criminal proceedings under articles 111 (High treason) and 161 (Religious enmity) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In conclusion, the clergyman writes, “I wonder if someone can tell me how many priests of the UOC KP were called in for questioning, or how many churches and dioceses of the UOC KP were searched during the times of criminal power?”

As the UOJ reported, earlier the head of the Legal Department of the UOC Proropriest Alexander Bakhov said that mass interrogations and searches of priests are needed to force the episcopacy of the UOC to come to the “unification council”, and law enforcement agencies of Ukraine follow instructions from the top when they accuse clerics of the canonical Church of inciting interfaith hostility while not noticing media and some politicians campaigning against the UOC.

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