Metropolitan Theodosy's defence to appeal against his house arrest

Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy and Kaniv at the court hearing. Photo: a video screenshot of the Facebook page of the Cherkasy Eparchy (UOC)

The defenders of the Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy and Kaniv will appeal against the decision of the Sosnovsky District Court of Cherkasy to put the archpriest under 24-hour house arrest, said Volodymyr Yudin, the bishop's lawyer.

"We are not giving up and will appeal against this court decision," the lawyer stressed.

He noted that the court chose house arrest for the Metropolitan "despite the very informative and substantiated explanations given during the court hearing".

"We did not rule out such a development, but still hoped for a fair and unbiased examination of the case by the court," the lawyer said.

According to him, the court ignored the appeals of almost fifteen hundred believers of the Cherkasy Eparchy, who "asked not to apply to Bishop Theodosius such a harsh and severe measure of restraint".

"Such a court decision grossly violated the rights of thousands of believers of Cherkasy region, who hoped to attend the festive church service, which was to be led by Metropolitan Theodosy, on the eve of Easter," stressed Volodymyr Yudin.

As reported, according to the court ruling, Metropolitan Theodosy will be under 24-hour house arrest for 60 days.

In February 2023, SBU officers opened criminal proceedings against the bishop under Article 161 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (inciting interfaith hatred). On 6 April, the SBU said that the metropolitan was suspected of "creating a website of the diocese using the template of the ROC". Vladyka is accused of committing a crime under Part 2 and Part 3 of Article 436-2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of the armed aggression of Russia against Ukraine, glorification of its participants).

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