The Leninsky District Court of Kropyvnytskyi sentenced Metropolitan Joasaph of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate and the diocesan secretary Roman Kondratiuk to three years in prison with a two-year probation period.
62-year-old Joasaph (Huben), vicar of the Kyiv Eparchy, was found guilty of violating the equality of citizens committed by a group of people, the Security Service of Ukraine reported.
Guben is the first hierarch of the Moscow Patriarchate to be convicted in Ukraine.
The SBU claims that Joasaph and his secretary organized the distribution of hostile propaganda literature in churches. The defendants, according to the security service, "publicly praised the seizure of part of the territory of Ukraine" and "inflated" inter-religious hatred."
The UOC claims that Joasaph "was a member of the inner circle of Moscow Patriarch Kirill," with whom he "coordinated subversive activities against Ukraine."
It is alleged that the Metropolitan pleaded guilty. By the court's verdict, he was banned from holding the positions of heads of religious departments and church dioceses for a year.
The court found these two people guilty under Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code "Violation of the equality of citizens based on their religious beliefs" and sentenced them to three years in prison with a probationary period of two years and not to hold leadership positions for a year.
As reported, in October 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine conducted searches of the leadership and representatives of the Kirovohrad Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. According to LB.ua's sources, the investigators searched, in particular, Josaph's place. The SBU found correspondence between the Metropolitan of Kirovohrad and Novomyrhorod and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and seized a large number of anti-Ukrainian materials produced in Russia that justified, among other things, the seizure of Crimea.
At a meeting of the UOC synod in November, Ioasaf filed a request for his release after the SBU searches. The following month, the special service notified him of suspicion.