Pro-Moscow church cleric on wanted list in Ukraine for assaulting veteran

Ukraine’s police have put on a wanted list subdeacon Ihor Slobodian of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), who is charged with assaulting Artur Ananiev, a war veteran, in the Holy Intercession Cathedral in Khmelnytskyi.

The relevant information is posted in the “Wanted” section on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ukrinform reports.

The man, who is suspected under a “hooliganism” article, has gone missing on the day charges were pressed against him.

Currently, the police are investigating all the circumstances of the altercation which led to a physical assault, interviewing witnesses and participants of the event.

Oleksandr Vasylyshyn, Deputy of the Khmelnytskyi City Council, broke the news of the cleric having gone missing on the air of Pryamyi TV.

"The cleric, who assaulted a soldier in the cathedral on Volodymyrska Street, fled Ukraine," he emphasized.

Two criminal cases are currently being investigated as part of the mentioned incident in the Holy Intercession Cathedral.

Ex-soldier Artur Ananiev, who was assaulted and pushed out of the Cathedral on Sunday, April 2, is undergoing inpatient treatment at the Khmelnytskyi City Hospital. He was diagnosed with a craniocerebral injury and contusion.

Later on the day of the incident, amid public outrage caused by the assault, the community made a decision to hand the said cathedral in Khmelnytskyi to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the one unaffiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church but recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople.

Photo: uk.wikipedia.org