January 26, 2024 Vinnytsia city court sentenced the off-duty cleric of Vinnytsia diocese of the UOC Archpriest Dmitry Tikhov to two years in prison. About it reports the site NaParizhii.

“The cleric of the Vinnytsia diocese of the UOC Archpriest D. Tikhov was accused that throughout 2022, using a personal page in the social network “Vkontakte” and “Telegram”, distributed publications that contain justification of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, denial of the temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine, as well as glorification of persons carrying out the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine”, – stated in the message.

Criminal proceedings were initiated on January 12, 2023. According to the results of the examination of the mobile device and subsequent linguistic expertise confirmed the commission by the latter of crimes under part 2 of article 109, part 2 of article 436-2 of the Criminal code of Ukraine. On December 28, a search was conducted at the place of Tikhov’s actual residence. According to its results, computer equipment and mobile devices, which are instruments of crime, were seized.

During the court proceedings the prosecution asked for 3 years of real term for Archpriest Dmitry Tikhov, the defense – 3 years suspended sentence. The sentence of the Vinnytsia city court amounted to 2 years of real imprisonment.

We shall remind you that earlier the Vinnytsia diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, commenting on the situation with Father Dmytro Tikhov, reported that being the rector of several churches in the diocese, “the priest did not preach political narratives in religious buildings. There have been no complaints from the faithful”.