Political analyst explains whether the UOC Primate could be deported

Metropolitan Onuphry. Photo: Serhii Ryzhkov

Political analyst Kostiantyn Bondarenko does not rule out the possibility of Metropolitan Onuphry being deported from Ukraine after being stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship. He stated this in an interview with journalist Oleksandr Shelest.

“Taking advantage of the current situation, using this decree, they might deport Metropolitan Onuphry from Ukraine. Where to? Well, that’s another question – where? You understand, our officials don’t care about the law,” Bondarenko said in the interview with Shelest.

When Shelest asked whether the authorities might arrest His Beatitude in order to send him for a prisoner exchange, Bondarenko replied that he could not rule out such a possibility.

“I don’t exclude such actions. Precisely so that ‘everyone will be afraid, so they won’t mock’ (a line from the song of the little wolf in the Ukrainian cartoon Kapitoshka. – Ed.), the authorities might do anything.”

According to the expert, the authorities will try to use this precedent to pressure the hierarchy, clergy, and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Earlier, the reported that, according to Bondarenko, if Metropolitan Onuphry appeals to the ECHR, he will have “ironclad” grounds.

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