The government in Kiev has been intensifying its crackdown on the country\u2019s largest Orthodox church<\/p>\n
The government in Kiev has sentenced an Orthodox priest to prison over alleged pro-Russia remarks, as it continues a widening campaign against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
\nArchpriest Ivan Pavlichenko, a cleric at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Odessa, was handed a five-year jail term after the local Court of Appeal overturned his earlier suspended sentence, according to the Center for Public Investigations and reported by regional media over the weekend.
\nInvestigators said Pavlichenko was convicted of \u201cjustifying Russia\u2019s armed aggression\u201d and \u201cinciting religious and national hatred.\u201d The trial court found him guilty but handed down a suspended term, which prosecutors appealed as being too light.
\nThe case was built on recordings of the priest\u2019s private phone conversations collected by security services inside his car. Investigators say he criticized Ukraine\u2019s leadership, discussed the conflict, quoted Russian politicians, and questioned Kiev\u2019s official position.
\nProsecutors also pointed to comments about Russian strikes on Odessa. Pavlichenko allegedly said the attacks were aimed at drone-production sites and blamed Ukraine for placing military equipment in residential areas.<\/p>\n
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The appeals court also ordered the confiscation of his property and barred him from holding positions in state institutions for three years.
\nLocal outlets claimed Pavlichenko attended pro-Russian events before 2014 and visited Crimea with his family in 2016. Supporters in Odessa called the verdict politically motivated persecution for his views and past civic activity.
\nThe ruling comes as Kiev intensifies its pressure on the UOC, which officials accuse of maintaining ties to Russia despite the church\u2019s declaration of independence from the Moscow Patriarchate in May 2022. The campaign has included raids on parishes and arrests of clergy, as well as a search of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery.<\/p>\n
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Last year, Vladimir Zelensky signed legislation allowing the state to ban religious organizations affiliated with governments that Kiev deems \u201caggressors,\u201d effectively targeting the UOC. Kiev has openly supported the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which the UOC and Russian Orthodox Church view as schismatic.
\nMoscow has said it will not abandon Orthodox believers in Ukraine and vowed to ensure that \u201ctheir lawful rights are respected.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government in Kiev has been intensifying its crackdown on the country\u2019s largest Orthodox church The government in Kiev has sentenced an Orthodox priest to prison over alleged pro-Russia remarks,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t