Ternopil official who threatened to expel UOC sentenced to 9 years

Former Ternopil Regional Council head Mykhailo Holovko. Photo: tor.gov.ua

The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court upheld the verdict against former Ternopil Regional Council head Mykhailo Holovko, sentencing him to nine years in prison.

The court confirmed the first-instance ruling, finding the official guilty of extortion and accepting a particularly large bribe. Under the decision of July 8, 2026, Holovko will spend nine years in prison, with all his property subject to confiscation. The convicted official, who had previously actively promoted the idea of seizing the Pochaiv Lavra, was taken into custody directly in the courtroom.

Investigators proved that the official had demanded more than 600,000 hryvnias from a businessman and volunteer for signing certificates of completed road repair works. In June 2023, NABU officers detained him red-handed while he was receiving another installment of the unlawful benefit.

Several days before his arrest, Holovko publicly demanded that the government terminate its agreement with the UOC and transfer the Pochaiv Lavra to the ownership of the local community. He said he would “find a way” to drive the monks out of the monastery and complained that there was no bill imposing a total ban on the “enemy Church.” Now, by court order, the initiator of persecution against the shrine will spend the coming years behind bars.

As the UOJ reported, a court chose a preventive measure for the former culture minister who had threatened the monks of the Lavra.

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