UOC rector alters church documents to prevent seizure in Brovary
A UOC priest in Kyiv region who defended his community’s church from a takeover by the OCU is facing possible imprisonment.
In Brovary, Kyiv region, police together with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported what they claim was the unlawful alienation of a church complex belonging to a religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This was stated in a message from the Kyiv region police circulated on Telegram.
According to the investigation’s version, the rector of one of the churches connected with the Demetrius parish, “abusing his official position,” allegedly altered documents and arranged for church property to be transferred to a charitable foundation. Police claim the case concerns real estate worth about 6 million hryvnias, and that the cleric’s actions are being classified under Part 5 of Article 191 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code. As law enforcement officials state, he faces up to 12 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property.
As the police and the SBU claim, the charitable organization was created a few months before the meeting at which, in April 2024, it was announced that the religious community had “transferred” to the OCU. The investigation asserts that the documents allegedly contained false information indicating that parishioners had agreed to donate the church premises to the foundation.
At the same time, these accusations have been voiced against the backdrop of events that took place in Brovary in spring 2024. At that time, a group of OCU activists, with the support of local authorities, organized a meeting of the territorial community with the aim of “transferring” the UOC parish dedicated to the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica into the OCU structure.
As the UOJ previously reported, the meeting followed a typical raider-style scheme – people with no connection to the religious community took part in the voting. The process was led by Bohdana Drach, a deputy of the Brovary City Council from the “European Solidarity” party, who had previously been noted for involvement in the violent seizure of the UOC Intercession Church in the village of Trebukhiv.
Meanwhile, the actual parishioners of St Demetrius’ church held their own meeting and unanimously confirmed their desire to remain within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Thus, the actions of the rector, which law enforcement agencies interpret as “alienation of property,” took place under conditions of an attempted forcible change of the parish’s jurisdiction. The investigation, as the police state, is ongoing.
