Defense of Uzhhorod Cathedral rector claims forgery in criminal case

A court session on the case of Archpriest Dmytro Sydor. Photo: the Uzhhorod Eparchy's press service

During the court hearing on May 21, 2025, regarding the criminal case of the rector of the Uzhhorod Cathedral, Archpriest Dmytro Sydor, the defense presented documents to the court that indicate serious violations during the investigation and the fabrication of key evidence.

The clergyman is accused under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the equality of citizens based on racial, national, or religious grounds) for sermons in which he allegedly made discriminatory statements against Catholics of Hungarian nationality in Transcarpathia.

Essence of the defense's claims

The lawyers drew the court's attention to the fraud related to the statement of the witness Serhiy Tanchuk, which became the basis for initiating the criminal case. According to the defense, the materials of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) were transferred to the National Police and registered under number 661, and just 5-10 minutes later, Tanchuk's statement was registered under number 662.

"The applicant Tanchuk could not have known about the expert conclusions of Uzhhorod University, which were made based on a written request from the SBU, meaning he had no access to them," the defense attorney stated in court.

However, the defense is even more concerned by the fact that Tanchuk's statement contains verbatim quotes from closed expert conclusions, and even technical errors from the expertise are accurately reproduced in the witness's statement.

Comparative analysis of documents

The defense presented a comparative table demonstrating the identity of the formulations in three documents: the conclusions of the Uzhhorod expertise, reports from the SBU and the police, and Tanchuk's statement. "Everything is identical," emphasized the lawyer. "They didn't even bother to change the word order or a single letter."

Moreover, the defense pointed out the inconsistency between the initial accusation, based on one sermon, and the subsequent expansion of the case to seven sermons after Tanchuk's statement was submitted.

Positions of the parties

The prosecution rejected the defense's arguments, calling them "absolutely unfounded assumptions." The representative of the prosecution stressed that witness Tanchuk was interrogated twice in court and under oath confirmed that he "wrote the statement independently".

However, the defense insists that "the author of the statement is not Serhiy Tanchuk, but someone else" as Tanchuk was unable to recognize his own statement at the previous court hearing.

Despite the evidence presented, the court of the Transcarpathian region rejected the defense's motion for an additional examination to establish the true authorship of the disputed statement.

Journalists from «Dozor», citing their sources, claim that "the case is being expedited to 'make a decision' before May 24".

"This is being done to illegally convict Fr. Dmytro and immediately 'activate' the provisions of the law on the Church ban. A conviction of the priest under this article will open the possibility for local raiders to seize the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Cathedral of the UOC in Uzhhorod," the journalists write.

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