The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) declared the suspicion to abbot of the menʼs monastery of Saint Sava the Consecrated in the temporarily occupied Melitopol.
This was reported by the SBU press service.
After the capture of the city, Archimandrite Ioann (real name: Oleksandr Prokopenko) was one of the first to support the Russian invaders and called on local residents to help the invaders.
Addressing the parishioners, he categorically denied the war crimes of the occupiers and advocated the "joining" of the region to Russia.
In addition, at the end of August and the beginning of September 2022, the cleric took an active part in "forums" regarding the organization of a pseudo-referendum in the captured part of the Zaporizhzhia region. At such "events", the archimandrite publicly called on people to "vote" for joining the Russian Federation.
He also went to the ceremony of announcing the illegal Russian annexation of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Moscow on September 30, 2022.
The SBU declared him the suspicion under Part 5 and Part 6 of Art. 111-1 (collaborative activity) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Currently, the Archimandrite is in the temporarily occupied part of southern Ukraine. Law enforcement officers are working to bring him to justice. Oleksandr Prokopenko faces up to 12 years in prison.
- The day before, the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police exposed the abbot of the Holy Ascension Menʼs Monastery of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the UOC MP. He was informed about the suspicion.
- And on May 11, the court informed about the sentence to the ex-leader of the Kirovohrad Diocese of the UOC MP and his secretary for inciting religious enmity and hatred. They were sentenced to three years of imprisonment with a two-year probationary period, as well as a year without the right to hold leadership positions in religious organizations.