SBU fines director of the Book Centre for selling Liturgical Instructions

Officials of the Security Service of Ukraine. Photo: Vzgliad

The Security Service of Ukraine issued a fine of $ 1,500 to the Director of the Centre of the Orthodox Book Sergei Kikenin for bringing from the Russian Federation one copy of the Liturgical Instructions for 2019, reports the online edition “Starana.ua".

“At the beginning of March, I received an order for one copy of the Liturgical Instructions for 2019 (this is a kind of calendar for priests with indications of particular services that fall on a particular feast). I brought this book from Moscow and sent it through the online shop to the address indicated. It turned out that it was the “test purchase” of the SBU,” said Kikenin.

According to him, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officials stated that the book contains “holidays that are not necessary for us”: May 9 and the Memory of the Icon of Our Lady the Sovereign (Derzhavnaya).

"They say, "you understand what kind of sovereignty is in question". It turns out that they can come to any church, and for any Orthodox calendar sold there, charge for the glorification of the aggressor country," said the director of the Orthodox Book Center, who was summoned to the State Committee of Ukraine for Television and Radio after a conversation in the Security Service of Ukraine.

There, the first deputy head of the Committee Bogdan Chervak (who is also the current head of the OUN and the Ukrainian Nationalist Party), signed a fine of 10 non-taxable minimums – UAH 41,700.

Kikenin was charged with violation of Article 28 (1) of the Law of Ukraine on Publishing, according to which publishing products can be imported “from the territory of the aggressor state” and distributed to the territory of Ukraine only with the permission of the central authority responsible for information policy.

It is noteworthy that according to this article, permission for "publishing products imported by citizens in hand luggage or in the luggage with a total of no more than 10 copies" is not required. Kikenin imported and “distributed” in this case only one copy of the Liturgical Instructions for 2019.

The Security Service of Ukraine also put pressure on the head of the Rovno Eparchy’s Department for the Resolution of Interfaith Conflicts, Archpriest Viktor Zemlianoy, which was recently reported to the UN. Close attention to the situation arose due to the fact that the SBU brought a criminal case against Archpriest Viktor. “Considering that the nature of the charges against Archpriest Viktor Zemlianoy testifies that he is being persecuted for protecting human rights and reporting violations of the rights of believers in UN structures, information about this case will be considered in accordance with international procedures for the protection of human rights defenders,” said the head of the UOC Representative Office at the European International Organizations Bishop Victor (Kotsaba) of Baryshevka.

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