President dismisses head of SBU in Rovno region who persecuted UOC

Colonel Vasily Bedriy. Photo: Рівне вечірнє

On June 10, 2019, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky issued a decree on the dismissal of the head of the SBU in the Rovno region, Colonel Vasily Bedriy, reports the website of the head of state.

Bedriy pursued the head of the Department for the Settlement of Interfaith Conflicts at the Rovno Eparchy of the UOC, Archpriest Viktor Zemlianoy, for his activities in defense of the canonical Church.

“It was on the direct instruction of this person that pressure was exerted on Archpriest Viktor Zemlianoy, a cleric of the Rovno Eparchy of the UOC. Thanks to the activity of Father Viktor, many temples of our Church in the western region have not only been protected from seizure, but even some of them have been returned to the Church, for which Fr. Viktor was subject to pressure by certain individuals,” Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, commented in the President of Ukraine’s decree on his Facebook page.

The spokesperson for the canonical Church finds the dismissal of the official to be a signal "for all other zealous executors of anti-church orders from the top".

“Now they are no longer in office, but Fr. Viktor remained. So, this is a signal. So, dear priests, never be afraid of them all. Never. They come for a little while, and we serve for a long time!” emphasized Archpriest Nikolai.

Over the years of his activity, Archpriest Viktor was able to return to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church three grabbed temples and prevent 27 seizures of other temples. However, his ministry provokes opposition from schismatics, radicals, local authorities, and law enforcement officials.

In the winter of 2017, SBU officers, without a notice, broke into the clergyman’s house. The enforcers searched his home and said that he was allegedly a witness in the case of their disclosure of state secrets by their employee. The UOC cleric was not allowed to call his lawyer. More than 2.5 thousand religious books, brochures, leaflets, even Pochayev leaflets dated 1992 were seized from him and the clergy he knew. Archpriest Viktor connected the pressure of the SBU with the cross procession.

On December 6, 2018, the police stopped the priest's car under the pretext of a search and gave him a subpoena for interrogation. “According to my observations, as soon as articles about me appear in the press, wait for the next steps,” Archpriest Viktor said.

On March 12, 2019, the deputy head of the USBU in the Rovno region Bogdan Tuz again summoned the UOC cleric for questioning as a witness in criminal case No. 22017180000000025. According to the UOC cleric, the SBU wanted to hand the suspicion document to him but at the last minute they changed their mind. According to preliminary data, a criminal case was opened against the priest himself.

In May 2019, Bishop Viktor of Baryshevka, the head of the UOC Representative Office at European International Organizations, reported the opening of criminal proceedings against Archpriest Viktor Zemlianoy to the UN Special Rapporteur for him to prepare the annual report “Impunity for human rights violations and abuses against human rights defenders."

However, the authorities continue to put pressure on witnesses in the Zemlianoy “case”. On May 29, 2019, the SBU officers also interrogated a former employee of a public organization that provided legal assistance to the UOC. According to the media reports, the head of the Investigative Unit of the SBU of the Rovno region personally arrived at the woman’s house for the interrogation.

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