On the criminal scheme of the OCU in Chernivtsi

Dumenko and Bodoriak. Photo: Firtka

More disgraceful facts are emerging in the case of the "under-the-fence meeting" at the UOC cathedral in Chernivtsi, where on February 16, unknown individuals organized a vote for the transfer of three (!) of the city's main churches, including the cathedral itself, to the OCU. This occurred simultaneously with a legitimate meeting of the religious community inside the cathedral, where thousands of parishioners voted for their faithfullness to the UOC. Similar mass meetings took place at other "transferred" churches.

It would seem that the "transfer" in Chernivtsi is a clear case of fraud and deception. So blatant that even the state-run Suspilne channel has mentioned it. However, after 10 days, all three communities were re-registered with the OCU in the Unified State Register. The owner of these communities is now listed as Yaroslav Bodoriak, also known as the Chernivtsi "bishop" Feognost. For a while, it was unclear who orchestrated this scam, as the authorities in Chernivtsi denied any involvement.

It soon became clear that the re-registration had been carried out in Lviv. Specifically, by Solomiya Hryniv, an official from the Lviv Regional State Administration. And she is no ordinary woman. It turned out that she participates in joint activities with the DESS head, Yelensky. Most importantly, she received a certificate of merit from Dumenko "For Services to the OCU" for her role in the re-registration of UOC communities in the Lviv region, and a joint photo of them was proudly displayed on the official website of Epifaniy’s structure. Currently, Hryniv is a subject of several legal proceedings for her previous "achievements".

This is clearly a corruption-driven criminal scheme with several steps:

1. A fictitious meeting of outsiders is organised to vote for the transfer of three (!) main cathedrals in Chernivtsi to the OCU.

2. Legitimate meetings of UOC religious communities are ignored.

3. An illegal re-registration is carried out by a "friendly" black registrar in another region.

There is no doubt that the next stage will be a forcible seizure of the churches, accompanied by shouting, fighting, and very likely bloodshed. Essentially, this is a provocation for mass disturbances in order to achieve personal gain.

In a country that respects itself, all these people would have long been giving testimonies in the SBU's offices. But today, that is not the case.

One can only hope that tomorrow will be different.

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