Police Investigate Attack on Monks at UOC Sviatohirsk Lavra in Donetsk Region
Police in Ukraine's Donetsk region are investigating an attack on monks at the Sviatohirsk Dormition Lavra that left one monk dead and two other people injured. The case has been opened under charges of both attempted and completed murder.
Ukrainian police are investigating an attack on the monastic community of the Sviatohirsk Dormition Lavra, a men's monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which is unofficially subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate, located in the Donetsk region. The attack left one monk dead and two other people injured.
According to information the National Police provided to Ukrainska Pravda, on August 23 the investigative department of Police Department No. 2 of the Kramatorsk district police administration entered details of the incident into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations. The case has been classified under two articles of Ukraine's Criminal Code — as a completed attempt at premeditated murder and as premeditated murder. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing, and police have not disclosed further details.
According to Ukrainska Pravda's information, procedural oversight of the case is being carried out by the Specialized Defense Prosecutor's Office for the Eastern Region.
Circumstances of the attack
Earlier, the lavra itself reported that a group of unknown individuals had attacked the monastery's brethren. Monk Varsonofiy (Turianskyi) was killed in the attack, while monk Hryhoriy and refugee Andriy Kyriienko, who resided at the monastery, were injured.
The injured were initially taken to a hospital in Sloviansk before being transferred to Kharkiv for further treatment.
The Sviatohirsk Dormition Lavra is a men's monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is unofficially subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate.
