Police open a case against MP who opposed cross procession to Pochaiv Lavra

The police of the Ternopil region opened a criminal case against the deputy of the Ternopil city council from the European Solidarity party Maryana Yuryk-Tomyak, who incited hostility against the believers of the UOC during a procession with the cross to the Pochaiv Lavra. This is reported by the Ternopoliany publication.

Criminal proceedings were opened under Article 161 – violation of the equality of citizens based on their race, nationality, regional affiliation, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds.

The article under which a provocateur deputy is accused provides for punishment in the form of a fine of 200 to 500 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens or restriction of freedom for up to 5 years, or imprisonment for up to 3 years, with deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to 3 years or without it.

Yuryk-Tomyak herself commented on her Instagram page that on September 19 in the morning she was summoned for interrogation and informed that a criminal case had been initiated against her for the posts on Facebook about the religious procession in the Ternopil region.

Recall that at the end of August 2022, a procession with the cross took place from Kamyanets-Podilsky, Khmelnytsky region, to the Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra in the Ternopil region, in which 7,000 believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church took part.

The cross walkers faced difficulties: the local authorities and the OCU forbade people to go through their cities, blocked roads and attacked with sticks.

Later, the MP from the same party Volodymyr Ariev said on his Facebook page that the SBU did not find any provocative materials during the religious procession of the UOC to the Pochaev Lavra.

As reported by the UOJ, a deputy from Ivano-Frankivsk, Maria Rudyk, who is demanding that the Lavra be returned to the OCU, was accused of corruption.

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