OCU activist gets suspended sentence for beating UOC believer in Mnyshyn

The seized Holy Protection Church of the UOC in Mnyshyn. Photo: UOJ

The Korets District Court sentenced the supporter of the OCU, who beat his fellow villager during the seizure of the Holy Protection Church of the UOC in the village of Mnyshyn, Rivne region, to one year of probation and ordered him to pay the victim 15 thousand hryvnias. However, the relatives of the injured UOC believer intend to appeal the court decision, reports “Rivne. The Voice of the Church” on its Facebook page on July 5, 2021.

The incident took place in May 2019 when during an interfaith confrontation in Mnyshyn, OCU activist Viktor Kaliuzhny attacked a parishioner of the Holy Protection Church Viktor Galaziuk. The UOC believer was seriously injured and was treated for several weeks in the maxillofacial department of the Rivne regional hospital.

“It was Sunday, the morning began not with a divine service, but with a fight,” said the victim's daughter Viktoria Daniliuk. “My father was just standing near the church house, a fellow villager came to him and hit him with his fist. By evening, my father's face was bruised, swollen, and he could not even swallow saliva. We decided to take him to the hospital immediately, came to Viktor Kaliuzhny, told him to go with us, so that later there would be no unnecessary speculation, he did not deny the fact of beating my father but did not want to go."

The relatives of the beaten UOC believer clarified that the beatings were documented in the hospital, and then they wrote a statement to the police. However, in their opinion, the investigation was deliberately delayed, the investigator did not conduct an investigative experiment and was in no hurry to send the case to court.

“Some kind of outrageous thing was going on. In the case, testimony, in particular, of our rector, Father Vladimir, disappeared, then the disc with the video disappeared, then it was found, but only one of the four videos was reproduced,” said the victim's daughter.

The case of the beating of Viktor Galaziuk was heard in the Korets court, and more than ten hearings were held in two years. In court, Kaliuzhny denied that he had beaten his fellow villager, despite the video evidence. In addition, added Viktoria Daniliuk, the judge "procrastinated the case to the point that the cheques that we attached to the case for the accused to return the money to the father for the treatment faded and the sums became illegible."

As a result, a few weeks ago the court ruled: the supporter of the OCU was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay the victim 15 thousand hryvnias.

The relatives of the battered UOC believer reported that this amount does not cover even part of the funds spent on medical treatment and the services of a lawyer so they intend to appeal.

As reported earlier, a UOC believer from Mnyshyn won the trial in the case of beating by an OCU activist.

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