Priest of Shepetivka Eparchy sentenced to 4 years in prison

Archpriest Mykolai Khlan. Photo: raskolam.net

In the Khmelnytskyi region, the Slavuta City and District Court sentenced Archpriest Mykolai Khlan, a cleric of the Shepetivka Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to four years in prison. As reported on the website of the Unified State Register of Court Decisions on March 18, 2025, the UOC cleric is accused of inciting religious hatred and justifying Russian aggression.

Two years ago, during a search of the house of Archpriest Mykolai Khlan, it became known that a criminal case had been opened against him under Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (incitement of religious hatred). During the investigation, he was accused of criticizing the OCU. Although it was the St. John the Theologian parish in the village of Peremyshel, where Father Mykolai was the rector, that the authorities illegally re-registered as an OCU.

As a result, over the course of two years, according to the investigation, it was discovered that Archpriest Nikolai Khlan publicly justified the actions of the Russian Federation, calling the war in Ukraine a "civil conflict." "During liturgies, he praised Putin and accused the Ukrainian government of unleashing the war. He also spread Kremlin narratives on social networks, in particular on VKontakte, where he spread fakes about events in Ukraine and insulted parishioners of other religious communities," the report says.

The priest was sentenced to 4 years in prison and banned from “holding the office of priest” for 3 years.

The defense has the right to file an appeal.

As previously reported by the UOJ, in May 2023, a case was opened in Khmelnytskyi Oblast against a UOC priest for criticizing the OCU.

"We see a one-sided and biased attitude towards clerics of the UOC by the law-enforcement agencies when people are criminally prosecuted for criticizing the OCU for seizing churches and for their personal attitude towards the OCU," the Legal Department said at that time. “But the obvious public and hostile calls regarding the UOC, which incite religious discord, go unnoticed by the representatives of the law-enforcement agencies. We have such a selective application of the law.”

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