For the first time in Ukraine, the court sentenced a high-ranking cleric of the Orthodox Church of Moscow patriarchate, Metropolitan Iosaf, ex-supervisor of the Kirovohrad Diocese.

The Metropolitan and the secretary fully pleaded guilty to the crimes the Security Service charged them with.

The guilty plea fully confirmed the evidence base collected by SBU officers.

The metropolitan and his secretary were convicted under Part 2 of Art. 28 and Part 1 of Art. 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – violation of the equal rights of citizens depending on their racial, national, regional affiliation, religious beliefs, disability and on other grounds, committed by a group of persons based on a prior conspiracy.

Taking into account the cooperation with the investigation, the court sentenced them to three years of imprisonment with a probationary period of 2 years, and banned them from holding the positions of heads of religious administrations and dioceses for one year.

As the investigation established, the convicts publicly supported the occupation of Ukrainian lands and inflated inter-religious enmity in the region in favor of Russia.

During searches in the territory of the diocese, law enforcement officers found a large number of pro-Russian printed materials and evidence of contacts with Moscow curators.