Medvedev: Zelensky will also be tried for religious repression

According to deputy head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will face not only human but also religious judgment for actions against the clergy of the Kiev Caves monastery. “I am sure that they will find themselves not only before a human court, but above all before his (God's) court. And they will be punished for everything they have done,” Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel a day after the judicial authorities Ukrainian women have placed Metropolitan Pavel of the monastery of the Caves in Kiev under house arrest. This was stated by the deputy president of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev quoted by Nova News. “I am sure that they (Zelensky and his associates) will be judged not only by a mortal judge, but above all by God. And they will pay for what they have done,” Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel.

Metropolitan Pavel, head of the monastery, was subjected to 60 days of house arrest yesterday evening by the court in Kiev's Shevchenko district, after the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) formally charged him with inciting interreligious hatred and justification of armed aggression by Russia. The metropolitan is a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which has tense relations with the Kiev authorities due to its historical ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. The Cave Monastery is formally state-owned and the monks have been notified of the end of the lease which allowed them to occupy it. The deadline for the monks to leave the monastery was Wednesday 29 March. However, Metropolitan Pavel said that the monks would not leave the convent, pending the outcome of a court appeal against the eviction.