Moscow Patriarchate’s Metropolitan Pavlo gets electronic tag in courtroom, placed under house arrest
Moscow Patriarchate’s Metropolitan Pavlo gets electronic tag in courtroom (Photo:Радіо Свобода / Telegram)
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate’s Metropolitan Pavlo, the former abbot of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, has been fitted with an electronic bracelet at Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi District Court after being put under round-the-clock house arrest.
Metropolitan Pavlo will be under house arrest for the next two months. A courtroom video published by Radio Liberty on April 1 showed the former Lavra abbot being fitted with an electronic monitoring tag.
Pavlo claimed that he was medically unfit to wear an electronic bracelet and that he wanted to call his doctors for confirmation.
“I have diabetes," Pavlo told the police officer. He then relented, saying “Please, put it on. On your head be it,” and the bracelet was placed on his leg.
The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv hearing on April 1 to decide Pavlo’s pre-trial custody was briefly interrupted when the former abbot complained of feeling unwell, but the court approved his subpoena and resumed at 6.30 p.m.
The court rejected a prosecution request to ban Pavlo from using social media to communicate with believers.
Ukraine’s SBU security service notified Metropolitan Pavlo on April 1 that he was suspected under two articles – incitement to religious hatred (Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code) and justification and denial of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine (Part 1 of Article 436-2).
The SBU also published recordings of Pavlo’s conversations, which is part of the evidence against him. His house was searched and he was summoned for questioning.
During the court hearing, Pavlo stated that this was a "political case" and he "has never been on the side of aggression."
Metropolitan Pavlo was charged amid the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate’s failure to vacate the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra – despite the termination of its lease agreement on March 29.
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