"Activists" near Lavra desecrate icons, police refuse to open the case

"Magician Veliar" committing sacrilege near the walls of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Photo: screenshot from the Telegram channel "Pershy Kozatsky"

On December 1, 2023, during the service of the UOC near the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, anti-church "activist" Bohdan Oryshchenko, who calls himself "Mag Veliar," with the support of a group of like-minded people, tore and trampled icons of Orthodox saints and the portrait of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine. The video of the incident was published by the Telegram channel "Pershy Kozatsky".

The "activists" loudly insulted the holy saints, the Primate, clergy, and parishioners of the UOC, cursed the believers, and spread slander about the Church.

The police officers present at the scene did not prevent the commission of the crime, and when the believers tried to save the icons and the photo of His Beatitude Metropolitan, the police demanded that they return them to the "activists."

Lawyer Dmytro Tsvetov, representing the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, filed a statement with the Pechersk District Police Department in Kyiv about the commission of a criminal offense by "activists," provided for in part 3 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (incitement to religious enmity and hatred, insult to the feelings of citizens based on their religious beliefs, combined with deception, committed by an organized group). The lawyer attached a video recording of Oryshchenko's criminal actions and his accomplices to the statement. However, the police officers did not react within the legal deadline.

For this reason, Dmytro Tsvetov appealed to the Pechersk District Court with a complaint about the inaction of the police.

As reported by the UOJ, on May 17, 2023, "activists," led by Bohdan Oryshchenko, performed a blasphemous rite of "burying the UOC" near the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

The UOJ also reported that as of November 27, 2023, the Pechersk District Police Department ignored all 16 statements by Lavra lawyers about provocateurs' offenses near the monastery. The court ordered the police to open 10 criminal cases, but they opened only two.

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