SBU adds new charges to UOJ case

Orthodox journalists Valeriy Stupnitsky, Andriy Ovcharenko, Volodymyr Bobecko and Fr Serhiy Chertylin at the court session. Photo: UOJ

The Security Service of Ukraine has added new charges to the case against the Orthodox journalists, reports the State Security Administration of Ukraine in Kyiv and the Kyiv region.

It is reported that the SBU has documented “new facts of illegal activities of an agent network conducting information sabotage at the behest of the FSB of Russia”.

Specifically, the Orthodox journalists are accused of producing and distributing the film “'Hollow Church of Ukraine': What happens to the seized UOC temples”, which, according to the SBU, destabilized the situation in Ukraine.

Investigators are confident that the film's development followed methodological guidelines received from Russia.

“Immediately after the publication of the commissioned materials, they were instantly picked up by central TV channels and internet publications in Russia to spread IPSO,” stated the SBU.

The security agency claims that, based on the collected evidence, new suspicions under three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine have been filed against the four detained Orthodox journalists and six other “members of the criminal organization”:

• Part 4, Article 28 (committing an offense as part of a criminal organization);
• Part 3, Article 161 (incitement of religious enmity and hatred, committed by an organized group);
• Parts 1 and 2, Article 436-2 (justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine).
• The Orthodox journalists face life imprisonment.

🙏You can help defend the Orthodox journalists with the following details:

Card: 5375 4112 1710 9227

As earlier reported by the UOJ, the lawyer of the detained Fr Serhiy Chetylin, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, spoke about how the judge in this process violates the right to defence.

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