Passport situation means SBU has nothing on His Beatitude – expert

Vyacheslav Lykhachov. Photo: zn.ua

The revocation of citizenship from His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry is causing serious concern among human rights advocates and may indicate a lack of any real grounds for prosecuting the Primate of the UOC by state authorities. This was stated by Vyacheslav Lykhachov, an expert at the Center for Civil Liberties, in a comment to DW.

He believes that in this case, citing possession of another citizenship as the basis for revocation is being used purely for political purposes.

"If you have evidence that someone is acting in the interests of the aggressor state, then it would be good to see that evidence and apply legislation against justifying Russian aggression. But if in three years the SBU has found nothing on Onuphry except for his Russian citizenship, which has been widely known for at least two years thanks to journalistic investigations, then it means they actually have nothing on him," Lykhachov noted.

He considers the revocation of Metropolitan Onuphry’s citizenship to be a kind of “final warning” for the UOC and an attempt to force it into greater compliance.

The expert does not rule out that the Primate of the UOC could even be considered for exchange in a future prisoner swap with Russia. Lykhachov also suggests that His Beatitude will likely appeal the presidential decree revoking his citizenship in Ukraine’s Supreme Court and then at the European Court of Human Rights.

The UOJ previously analyzed the situation surrounding the revocation of His Beatitude Onuphry’s citizenship and what lies behind President Zelensky’s decree.

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