Court finds unreliable information about UOC Bishop Nikita's physical intimacy with a 17-year-old boy during searches in Chernivtsi cathedral

The Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv has declared unreliable the information that Bishop Nikita of the UOC "was caught in the moment of physical intimacy with a 17-year-old boy" singing in a local choir during searches of the cathedral in Chernivtsi in November 2022. This is stated in the court decision of April 2, reports UNN. 

"To recognize as unreliable the information posted and disseminated by the online media outlet "Livyi Bereg" in the publication, namely the following information: "...during the search, SBU officers caught the secretary of the Chernivtsi Diocese of the UOC-MP in physical intimacy with a 17-year-old boy who sings in a local choir," the court ruling reads.

The court also ordered Livyi Bereh to refute the disseminated information, stating that it was untrue, no later than 15 days from the date the court decision enters into force, with evidence of sending the relevant information to the addressee.

Also, Left Bank will have to pay the bishop 10 thousand hryvnias for non-pecuniary damage and more than two thousand hryvnias in court fees. In addition, another 20 thousand hryvnias and the cost of the court fee will be collected from the editor-in-chief of the publication, Sonya Koshkina. 

Recall 

In November 2022, law enforcement officers conducted counterintelligence activities on the territory of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the UOC-MP. During the searches, the security service found warehouses with pro-Kremlin literature, correspondence with manuals from Russian curators, and documents confirming Russian citizenship. 

Then the publication "Left Bank" , citing sources , wrotethat the then secretary of the diocese, Archimandrite Nikita, now Bishop of Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomyia of the UOC-MP, was "caught in a moment of physical intimacy" with a 17-year-old boy who sings in a local choir. Law enforcement officials did not officially confirm this. 

In his turn, Nikita claimed that during the searches, law enforcement officers allegedly forced the priests to undress and then took pictures of them.