A criminal case was opened against a resident of the Ternopil region, who criticized the OCU on social networks, for “inciting sectarian hatred,” and insulting believers and representatives of the canonical UOC in the media has long become the norm, the chairman of the ROC Synodal Department for Church Relations with society and the media Vladimir Legoyda writes in his Telegram channel.

In particular, a resident of Ternopil spoke about the “bishops” of the OCU as self-sacred, and wrote about this structure as a whole: “… The very same lie called the OCU will burst like a soap bubble at one time …”.

“Judging by the information that has been published about this case in the media, the author of the quoted words may suffer for nothing. Based on this, it seems that such a criminal prosecution is nothing more than an attempt to intimidate people who do not share the delight and illusions of Ukrainian nationalists and a number of Ukrainian politicians regarding the OCU.

For my part, if Ukrainian law enforcement officers have finally begun to eradicate hate speech against religious organizations, I would like to draw their attention to the fact that insulting believers and representatives of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the media has long become the norm. Moreover, very often these insults and threats (up to public threats of murder) come from representatives or supporters of the same OCU.

I would like to hope that Ukrainian law enforcement officers will be impartial and fair and will take steps to protect from the hostile rhetoric not only of the schismatic OCU imposed by the Ukrainian authorities, but also of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – the largest and only canonical Church in the country”, said the ROC rep.