The Security Service of Ukraine pursues comprehensive measures to expose and prosecute persons involved in crimes against national security in eastern Ukraine. The illegal activity of the former rector of the UOC-MP’s church in the town of Pryvillya in Luhansk region, an active participant in the unconstitutional events of the so-called “Russian Spring” in 2014, has been exposed.
According to the SBU, the investigators gathered unequivocal evidence that, abusing his authority among the faithful, the priest called on them to support pro-Russian militants and incited interfaith and ethnic hatred.
In particular, speaking at anti-Ukrainian rallies in Severodonetsk, the cleric praised the annexation of Crimea and campaigned for an illegal “referendum” on the secession of Donetsk and Luhansk regions from Ukraine.
With the onset of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, the perperator fled to the temporarily occupied Crimea. He is currently hiding from Ukrainian justice in the territory of the aggressor power.
He is currently informed in absentia about the charges under Article 161 (violation of equality of citizens depending on race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability, and other grounds) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The culprit is yet to be put on the wanted list.
Also, according to the SBU, the former deputy of the Zolote City Council in Luhansk region is accused of encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine. According to the inquiry, in May 2014, the woman, having betrayed her oath, as the “secretary of the election commission,” organized and held a fake “referendum” on the “state independence of the “Luhansk People’s Republic” in Zolote.
The malefactor has moved to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government. She was handed a suspicion notice under Part 2 of Article 110 (encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
In 2021 in Luhansk region, guilty verdicts under Art. 110 of the Criminal code (state treason) were handed down to three deputies of local councils, the SBU reports, Like their “colleague” from Zolote, they all took part in organizing and conducting the anti-state sham “referendum” in 2014.