Maliuk: Based on SBU materials, 19 clerics of UOC stripped of citizenship

SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk. Photo: interfax.com.ua

Based on the materials of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the authorities have stripped 19 clerics of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of their Ukrainian citizenship, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Maliuk, said in an interview with interfax.com.ua.

According to him, the Special Service opened criminal proceedings against 61 clerics and "courts have already issued seven verdicts against individual clerics who sided with the enemy".

"The presence of a cassock and a censer is not an aggravating circumstance, but it does not exempt from criminal liability either," Maliuk said. “FSB agents in cassocks have no place in a country at war. Let the traitors not even dream of 'atoning' for their sins.”

As reported, two months ago the SBU reported that it had opened "about 60" criminal proceedings against UOC representatives and the seven court verdicts mentioned.

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