The UOC priest's lawyer from Sadov threatened: the police opened a case

Young men with balaclavas near the courthouse in Lutsk during the consideration of the claim of the priest of the UOC Vladimir Meles. Photo: pravoslavna.volyn.ua

The National Police launched an investigation into threats and provocations against the lawyer of the priest of the Volyn Diocese of the UOC Vladimir Meles after the meeting of the Lutsk City District Court on June 4, 2021, at which a decision was made not in favor of the OCU activists trying to evict Father Vladimir and his family from the church house, reports the Volyn Diocese on its website.

The OCU activists from the village of Sadov arrived at the court session with their "priest" Nazar Partyka and a group of young people in shorts and balaclavas in their hands. The diocese believes that these thugs were supposed to ensure the forceful eviction of the priest's family in the event of a positive court decision in favor of the OCU.

However, the court satisfied the claim of Archpriest Vladimir Meles and stopped the case on the eviction of the priest pending a decision on another claim, in which Father Vladimir asks to cancel the decision of the state registrar to re-register the ownership of his apartment building in favor of the OCU community. This decision disappointed the supporters of the OCU, after which the car of the defender of the priest, lawyer A. Matsey, was put under surveillance. While driving, the defender's car was cut off by another car with foreign registration numbers, and the young people in it provoked the lawyer into a conflict and threatened him.

Now the police have opened criminal proceedings on the grounds of crimes under Art. 397 (Interference with the activities of a defender or representative of a person) and Art. 398 (Threat or violence against a defender or representative of a person) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Recall that in April 2021, supporters of the OCU broke windows and threw sewage at the house of the priest of the UOC in Sadov village, Volyn region. As a result of the attack, the priest's grandson was injured, on whose bed a bucket of sewage fell during the attack. He is afraid to sleep at night and is worried about another possible attack by the "OCU bandits".

As the UOJ reported, the court began to consider the claim of the priest of the UOC in Sadov, whose family the OCU activists are trying to evict from the church house.

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