Police look into the appeal to "purge UOC monasteries" in Ivano-Frankivsk

Nazariy Kishak. Photo: galka.if.ua

The police opened criminal proceedings on the fact that Nazariy Kishak, the adviser of the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, called on Facebook to “purge the monasteries” of the UOC and “expel the priests”, Galka reports.

In a publication dated April 21, 2021, on his page, Kishak wrote: “It is necessary to ‘purge’ and double-check all Moscow monasteries in the territory not only of the Pre-Carpathian region, but also of the whole of Ukraine until a blow is struck in the back from there! One of such specific religious institutions is the ROC monastery in Chornovola St., in the heart of Frankivsk.”

A few days later, on April 27, the investigation department of the Ivano-Frankivsk RUP GUNP in Ivano-Frankivsk region opened criminal proceedings on the grounds of a criminal offense under Part 2 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code (deliberate actions aimed at inciting national, racial or religious enmity and hatred).

Soon Kishak published a second post, where he stated that he did not call for physical violence. However, the mayor's adviser had already been interrogated at the local police station. According to the law, a person accused of a crime is subject to a fine of 500 to 1000 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens or imprisonment for a term of 2 to 5 years with the deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to 3 years.

Earlier, the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk Ruslan Martsynkiv posted a video of how the “priests” of the OCU sang “Our father Bandera” song.

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