The next facts of illegal activity of the former rector of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Pavel (Peter Lebed) became known. A new suspicion was announced to him, the SBU reports on Thursday, July 13.
The special service established that the day before the first suspicion from the SBU was announced to him, the metropolitan gave a video interview to one of the domestic media, in which he denied the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state.
The metropolitan also called the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine a “civil conflict” that has been going on since 2014.
Forensic linguistic examination confirmed these facts of the cleric’s criminal actions.
SBU investigators informed the Metropolitan of a new suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- violation of the equality of citizens depending on their religious beliefs, committed by an official repeatedly (part 2 of article 161);
- justification, recognition as lawful, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine for repeated acts by an official (part 3 of article 436-2).
The sanctions of the articles provide for up to eight years in prison with confiscation of property.
