Lavra's lawyer again seeks to open a case against "activists" through court

Provocateurs near the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Photo: a video screenshot of the UOJ

On 4 October 2023, a lawyer of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Dmytro Tsvetov, appealed to the Pecherskyy District Court due to the fact that the district police department once again ignored his statement about the offence of anti-church "activists" near the monastery, reports the "KozakTv1" TG channel.

The statement, with which the lawyer appealed to the police on 29 September, reported that a group of provocateurs tried to disrupt the service at the Church St. Sergius of Radonezh. The offenders prevented the believers from praying, insulted their religious feelings and defamed the Church. The lawyer noted that these actions may qualify as a criminal offence under Part 1 Article 180 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal obstruction of a religious rite, disrupting or threatening to disrupt a religious rite).

According to Dmitry Tsvetov's complaint filed with the court, under the Criminal Procedure Code, law enforcers should have entered information about the commission of a criminal offence into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations and started investigative actions within 24 hours, but they failed to do so.

As reported, since 13 September, Lavra's lawyers have already filed six claims with the Pechersk police department about the disorderly conduct of "activists" near the monastery, and each time the police refused to start investigations.

On 26 September, a judge of the Pechersk court satisfied the complaint of the monastery's lawyers and ordered the police to start a pre-trial investigation into one of the facts of obstruction of worship near the Lavra.

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