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.

Read also

Bulgarian Church warns of the danger of "spiritual teachers"

The Church categorically rejects attempts to present Christ as one of many "spiritual teachers" or as an "incarnation" of the Hindu deity Krishna.

Dumenko awards DESS expert with order

The head of the OCU discussed interfaith dialogue with Fylypovych.