UOC bishop asks Zelensky to soften preventive measure for Lavra abbot

Metropolitan Pavel (Lebed). Photo: radiosvoboda.org

On 25 July 2023, Metropolitan Eulogiy of Sumy and Akhtyrka sent a letter to President Volodymyr Zelensky requesting assistance in easing the court-imposed pre-trial measures for the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel, who has been in the pre-trial detention centre since 14 July, reports the press service of the Sumy Eparchy of the UOC.

Metropolitan Eulogiy noted that 62-year-old Bishop Pavel, "who has a number of health problems, found himself in conditions that make it impossible to provide measures of medical supervision and treatment".

"The investigation is ongoing, and it is not excluded that its term will be extended," the Sumy bishop wrote. “For this reason, the difficult living conditions of the detention cell, which could be considered temporary difficulties, actually become the environment of a permanent long-term stay of the suspect. There is a justified concern about the state of health of an elderly person, who for a long time cannot receive proper medical care that corresponds to the nature of his illnesses".

Metropolitan Eulogiy asks the head of state to "take into account the physical infirmity and illnesses of Metropolitan Pavel, which require conditions for his stay outside the premises of the detention centre", and to request a replacement of the current harsh pre-trial detention measures with a milder one.

As reported, Serbian Patriarch Porfirije sent letters to the Primates of the Orthodox Churches, the head of the RCC, the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Council of Churches, and international human rights organisations, urging them to make every effort to release Metropolitan Pavel.

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