UN Human Rights Mission concerned about the convicted UOC bishop’s case

Metropolitan Jonathan, head of the Tulchyn Eparchy of the UOC. Photo: tulchin-eparchia.org.ua

Employees of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission met with Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchyn and Bratslav, whom the court sentenced to five years in prison. This was reported by the press service of the Tulchyn Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

According to the report, the Mission’s attention was drawn to the protests of the primates and hierarchs of the Local Orthodox Churches in connection with the sentencing of the 74-year-old metropolitan and famous spiritual composer “on trumped-up political charges by the SBU.”

The press service notes that the case of the bishop, “unjustly and cruelly sentenced to 5 years in prison by the Vinnytsia City Court, which completely ignored all the video evidence and defense arguments, has aroused the keen interest of the UN Monitoring Mission <...>, which directly received answers from the suffering bishop to the questions asked."

As the UOJ wrote, earlier Metropolitan Jonathan’s lawyer, Ihor Chudovsky, said that the “evidence” of the bishop’s anti-Ukrainian activities was fabricated, and the court’s verdict endangered the life of the elderly bishop, who has serious health issues.

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