Prosecutors stall cases against defenders of UOC cathedral in Cherkasy

Fr. Roman Harkavenko and Fr. Oleksandr Smyk were accused of “hooliganism.” Photo: Dozor

In January 2025, at the request of OCU representatives and law enforcement, several criminal cases were opened in Cherkasy against defenders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s St. Michael Cathedral. Clergy and parishioners were accused of “hooliganism.” According to the Dozor Telegram channel, the most notable cases – those against Fr. Roman Harkavenko and Fr. Oleksandr Smyk – are now being quietly dropped due to lack of evidence.

Journalists note that the trigger for these falsified accusations was a report by the UN Monitoring Mission, which described in detail the violent seizure of the cathedral by representatives of Epifaniy (head of the OCU).

“To deflect attention from the truth about their crimes, law enforcement and raiders decided to fabricate high-profile cases against UOC believers who stood up to defend their sacred site,” the report says.

Fr. Roman and Fr. Oleksandr were charged under Part 4 of Article 296 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code – aggravated hooliganism.

“OCU-hired militants accused the priests of causing them bodily harm. But the fabricated cases quickly ran into trouble,” Dozor reports. “Among the absurd claims were: ‘physical pain without bodily injury,’ an ‘assault’ that allegedly happened after the accused had already been admitted to the hospital, and a complete lack of documented injuries.”

According to Dozor, prosecutors eventually tried to close the cases by offering settlements. However, the UOC clergy refused such deals. As a result, prosecutors have simply stopped appearing in court.

“Currently, according to our sources, witness testimony is being heard. On the side of the alleged OCU ‘victims,’ there is only one witness. For all the cases,” the report concludes.

As the UOJ previously reported, Dozor stated earlier that “the raid carried out by Epifaniy’s supporters in Cherkasy was so brutal that even the cases fabricated by government order are backfiring on them.”

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