MP on seizure of UOC Convent in Cherkasy: The authorities have gone too far

MP Artem Dmytruk. Photo: UOJ

According to Artem Dmytruk, Ukrainian authorities will not be able to hide crimes committed during the seizure of the UOC's nunnery in Cherkasy from the international community. In a video address, the people's deputy emphasized that individuals in military uniforms, who seized the monastery, acted with active police support. He noted that priests and believers were attacked with particular cruelty, and the assailants subsequently blocked the local hospital where the injured were receiving medical assistance.

"Today, our people have united to repel Russian aggression," said Deputy Artem Dmytruk. "The best children of Ukraine are paying with their health and lives for freedom and independence. Yet, at the same time, healthy and strong raiders have chosen the path of robbery. They are strong, armed, in military uniforms, and they are fighting against their own people. The authorities support them. Moreover, they have given them guarantees of immunity and impunity."

According to the parliamentarian, the events in Cherkasy are "an attack on faith, citizens' rights, and the Constitution of Ukraine. It is a systematic activity to destroy Orthodoxy in Ukraine."

"People are being deprived of the opportunity to go to the churches they built and maintained with their own resources. They are being imposed with a newly created 'patriarchate' that lacks sanctity and truth. Its creators are destroying the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, without thinking about God and faith. Their goal is not the salvation of souls but the seizure of property, enrichment, and obtaining preferences and 'perks' from the authorities," emphasized Dmytruk.

The deputy noted that when Ukrainian officials go abroad, they talk about rights and freedoms in Ukraine but shamefully remain silent about the violations of these rights, fully backed by the state.

"After today's banditry, there will be questions. Every official at the press conference will blush from these questions. But it will no longer be possible to ignore this event. The authorities have gone too far in violating the rights and freedoms of their citizens," stated the MP.

He underscored that committing raider seizures of sanctuaries "under the guise of war is a betrayal to millions of UOC believers," including "thousands of believers who are on the front lines defending our state."

As reported by the UOJ, on November 20, militants from the National Corps organization stormed the Cherkasy Convent of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, brutally beating clergy and believers and forcing the residing nuns onto the street.

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