Lawyer: The court actually sentenced Metropolitan Jonathan to death

The verdict of the Vinnytsia City Court on the five-year imprisonment of Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchyn and Bratslav threatens the life of a 74-year-old bishop who has serious illnesses. Bishop’s lawyer Ihor Chudovsky stated this in an interview with Pershy Kozatsky.

“The court handed down a death sentence to a sick person – he has very serious health problems,” the lawyer said. “So if something happens during the execution of this unjust sentence, it will be on the conscience of the state authorities.”

The lawyer noted that the metropolitan, convicted on trumped-up charges, “according to the court, will have to ‘correct’ at the age of 80.”

The defense lawyer also recalled that the prosecution considers such a punishment too lenient: “We are expecting an appeal from the prosecutor because, according to the prosecutor’s office, five years in prison for such ‘crimes’ is too little for a sick person; we need to ask the court for six years.”

Ihor Chudovsky did not rule out that Metropolitan Jonathan’s lawyers will appeal to the European Court to prove numerous facts of violation of their client’s rights.

The lawyer emphasized that the case of Metropolitan Jonathan has generated significant international resonance and "it has become a litmus test that will reflect whether the principle of the rule of law is in effect in Ukraine or if it is too early to speak of the fairness of the court and the ability to defend one's rights," and conversely, there are grounds to assert "the arbitrariness of law enforcement agencies and that political expediency takes precedence over justice."

As the UOJ wrote, earlier a representative of the Vinnytsia regional prosecutor’s office, Kostiantyn Hozdup, said that his office would file an appeal against the sentence imposed on Metropolitan Jonathan.