Lawyer about "transfers" by OCU: Regional tsars are too crowned

Authorities in the Khmelnytsky region cannot divide "religious business" and ensure that citizens enjoy constitutional rights to freedom of religion, lawyer Victoria Kokhanovskaya said on her Facebook page, commenting on the organization of transfers of communities to the OCU by local authorities.

“There is a war in Ukraine, and while someone cannot share the church business, the blood of Ukrainians is being shed. You cause enmity, scandals and squabbles between Ukrainians. You do not respect any laws of Ukraine and divide God. What are you at such a difficult time for the country?” Kokhanovskaya addresses the local authorities.

The lawyer cites the example of inaction of law enforcement agencies. While attempting to seize a church in the village of Stepanivka in the Khmelnytsky region, members of the territorial defense beat members of the church in front of the police, but law enforcement officials only banned the video filming of the incident and did not try to stop the violence.

Complaints about improper response and non-fulfillment of obligations by police officers were sent to the State Bureau of Investigation of Khmelnytsky Region.

"Increasingly, there are complaints from residents about people in military uniform, who torture simple people: they put a sack on their heads, keep them in basements, just beat them for no reason, drag a half-dead body with hands tied (both women and men are tortured) to the hospital, and there – bingo – accidentally find drugs in their pockets and open a criminal case," writes Kokhanovskaya.

"Some regional tsars feel too much crowned during the war," the human rights activist said.

We will remind, in the village of Khodorovtsi of the Khmelnytsky region, believers declared their loyalty to the UOC, while local authorities organized a "transition" of the community to the OCU.