The Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutorʼs Office will appeal against the verdict of the Vinnytsia Court, which sentenced the head of the Tulchyn Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC MP), Metropolitan Ionafan (Yeletskyh) to five years in prison for justifying Russiaʼs aggression in Ukraine. Prosecutors will request to increase the prison term to six years.
"We asked the court to punish the Yeletskyh for six years, the court sentenced them to five. This year is important for us," the head of the law enforcement department of the regional security body of the Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutorʼs Office Kostyantyn Hozdup told Babel.
The trial against the metropolitan lasted two months. According to the prosecutor, it is "not fast" because the case is simple.
"The evidence against Anatoliy Yeletskyh is indisputable. They were found at his home and on the website of his diocese," Hozdup noted.
We are talking about postcards and an article authored by Ionafan. The postcards were seized from the priest during a search of his home in October 2022. The postcards are called: "Russian authorities call for you", "Donbass is Russia", "History of Crimea". The prosecutor says that they contain the phrases "Bandera government", "brown plague", "Donbas is Russia".
Investigators proved in court that Ionathan distributed leaflets among believers. SBU conducted a linguistic and semantic-textual examination of the leaflets, the experts confirmed that they are anti-Ukrainian and justify Russiaʼs war against Ukraine, as Hozdup stated. Similar examinations were conducted with the article authored by Ionaphan, and the experts reached the same conclusions as with the postcards. The article is called "With an open helmet, without a visor. Notes on the latest events in the Orthodox world". Ionathan published the article on the website of his diocese, and when the investigation began, he deleted it.
Hymn-prayer for Russia, written by Metropolitan Ionathan.
The court considered the issue that on December 28, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky deprived Ionafan of Ukrainian citizenship. The court provided evidence that he is a citizen of Russia. Hozdup did not answer whether Ionafan could be exchanged for Ukrainian military or civilian hostages held by Russia. We will remind that in May 2023, Ukraine exchanged one of the priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, who was exposed in collaborationism, for 28 Ukrainian servicemen.
The Vinnytsia Court found Metropolitan Ionafan guilty of five charges, the heaviest of which was justifying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and recognizing the occupation of Ukrainian territories. He was also found guilty of attempting to overthrow the government by force, encroaching on territorial integrity and inciting inter-religious enmity.
- "Babel" told why SBU opened an investigation against Ionafan, how he managed the Tulchyn Diocese, communicated with the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill for more than forty years, wrote a prayer for Russia and Putin, and participated in the rebellion against Filaret.