Miriane: Journalist inciting hatred to UOC must be held responsible

Ayder Muzhdabaev. Photo: video screenshot from Muzhdabaev's YouTube channel

The public union "Miriane" has prepared a report to the police about the crime, committed by journalist Muzhdabaev under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The corresponding document was published in the organization's tg-channel on Tuesday, September 14, 2021.

“Journalists who incite religious hatred and animosity must be prosecuted. This is our principled position," emphasized the "Miriane".

Believers recalled that Ayder Muzhdabaev, deputy general director and face of the Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR (Kyiv), repeatedly called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church an enemy, and in August of this year urged on his YouTube channel to adopt laws preventing its existence. He stated that "the destruction of this church, its expulsion from the territory of Ukraine is simply a matter of state security."

The organization stressed he must be held accountable for inciting hatred on religious grounds.

“The public union ‘Miriane’ has prepared a report on the crime, committed by Muzhdabaev under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and will seek to bring the journalist to criminal responsibility,” the believers explained.

The UOJ wrote that Muzhdabaev called for the physical destruction of the UOC. In his previous statements about the UOC and appeals to “push off” the “FSB-run Church-killer”, which “casts bullets in the Sviatogorsk Lavra,” the police did not find incitement to religious hatred and animosity.

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