Court orders psychiatric hospitalization for desecrator of Virgin Mary statue
A Lviv court has ordered a local man who desecrated a statue of the Virgin Mary to undergo psychiatric treatment after he said he committed the act to gain views on social media.
The Zaliznychnyi District Court in Lviv has ordered compulsory psychiatric treatment for a local resident who desecrated a statue of the Mother of God on Liubinska Street, LVIV.MEDIA reports.
On August 13, the man used a black marker to write obscene and offensive messages on the statue and attached two sheets of paper bearing anti-Christian statements. Earlier, on July 10, he had also made a false bomb threat by calling the police emergency number, 102, and claiming that a police station on Chernivetska Street had been mined. The false alarm prompted emergency services to evacuate nine people.
During the court hearing, the defendant admitted to the acts and said he had committed them to gain popularity on social media. A forensic psychiatric evaluation determined that he had a chronic mental disorder and, at the time of the incidents, was unable to understand the nature of his actions or control his behavior.
The defendant opposed hospitalization and asked the court to order outpatient monitoring instead. However, the court accepted the experts' recommendations and ordered his involuntary admission to a psychiatric facility.
As the UOJ previously reported, a court sentenced a woman for falsely reporting a bomb threat at a UOC church.
