Police: Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchyn faces up to 5 years in prison

The Vinnytsia region police reported that during a search at Metropolitan Jonathan (Yeletskikh) of Tulchyn and Bratslav’s house they found literature that promotes the "Russian world", reports the head of the Vinnytsia regional police, Ivan Ishchenko, on his Facebook page.

According to Ishchenko, during a search of Metropolitan Jonathan's house, they found "printed materials with an address of putin and the Russian patriarch to Ukrainian citizens, recognition of the quasi-republics 'lnr and dnr'" (Original spelling and punctuation preserved – Trans.).

As evidence of the metropolitan's criminal activities, the Vinnytsia regional police published photos of the printed publications found during the search on their Facebook page. According to a report of the Vinnytsia police, a pre-trial investigation into the case of the archpriest is being carried out under Part 2 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("Violating the equality of citizens depending on their racial, national affiliation, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds"). Such actions are punishable by up to five years in prison.

Human rights activist Victoria Kokhanovska commented on the actions of law enforcement officers, which they described on their page on social networks, noting the confusion over the article imputed to the UOC metropolitan.

"It is not clear which article is provided and under which the search took place – Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine or Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Also, where were those leaflets handed out and what is the content of the leaflets? What article?", Kokhanovska specifies.

As reported, the SBU searched Metropolitan Jonathan's (Yeletskikh) home.