The judge of the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv decided to remove the electronic bracelet from Metropolitan Pavlo (Lebid).
This was reported to Suspilne by the Metropolitanʼs lawyer Mykyta Chekman.
According to him, the defense proved to the court that removing the bracelet in no way increases the risks and that Metropolitan Pavlo does not hinder the conduct of criminal proceedings.
"All the duties that were previously assigned to him remain, except for wearing an electronic bracelet. It is, in particular, about handing in a foreign passport and appearing at the first request of the court," Chekman said.
Metropolitanʼs case
On April 1, 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) charged Metropolitan Pavlo with inciting religious enmity, and on the same day, the court sent him under house arrest. Pavlo was banned from accessing social networks and ordered to wear an electronic bracelet.
In July, SBU declared Pavlo about a new suspicion. On the eve of the announcement of his first suspicion, he gave an interview in which he denied the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state. The metropolitan called the Russian aggression a "civil conflict". Now Pavlo is accused of violating the equality of citizens and justifying the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, for which he faces up to 8 years in prison with confiscation of property.
On July 14, the court of Kyiv changed the preventive measure of Metropolitan Pavlo of the UOC MP — instead of 24-hour house arrest, he was ordered to be kept in custody until August 14, or to be bailed for more than 33 million hryvnias. On August 9, it became known that a bail of 33 million hryvnias was paid for Metropolitan Pavlo, and he was released from custody. SBU stated that this would not affect the fair trial of the case. Later, the lawyers stated that Pavlo was diagnosed with an acute myocardial infarction.
On October 20, SBU completed the investigation into Pavlo. His case was referred to the court.