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A barbaric attack on a monastery of contemplative sisters in Bryukhovychi, Ukraine. І

On 22 June 2015, early in the morning, a criminal act was committed at the request of the apostate clergy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). The event took place in the chapel of the Ukrainian orthodox Greek Catholic Church (UO GCC), Sosnova St., Bryukhovychi, and in the Contemplative Monastery on Shkilna St. simultaneously.

At 6 a.m. assaulters in masks and police uniforms broke into the buildings with crowbars and axes.

They dragged four bishops and one priest of the UO GCC – Czech and Slovak citizens – out of the Basilian monastery on Sosnova St. by force, took them to the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) department in Lvov and did not allow solicitors to enter the case. Three of them were unlawfully deported from Ukraine soon. The other two were subject to an absurd trial with the testimonies of false witnesses and also deported from Ukraine on 25 June 2015.

At the same time when the Basilian monastery was attacked, a group of armed criminals in military and police uniforms with batons, pistols and even machine guns (among them were also UGCC monks in disguise) encroached on the private territory and broke into the Contemplative Monastery of St Elijah the Prophet. There were about 200 of them altogether – 3 buses and several private cars.

They broke into the monastery in a brutal way, breaking the front and back doors. None of them identified himself or showed an official document – the court’s decision. Neither did they explain the reasons for an illegal raid on a private building. They ignored the request of the Sisters that they should show their documents, and they pushed or carried the Sisters out, holding their hands and feet. They even led some Sisters out holding a gun to their head. Some of the Sisters suffered bodily harm. Some were dragged out barefoot. When the Mother Superior tried to defend the Sisters, the aggressors struck her twice on the head.

This barbaric attack planned beforehand lasted six hours – from 6:15 a.m. to 12:00.

Under the pretext of searching the house the criminals in masks turned the monastery upside down and desecrated the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament was reserved in a tabernacle. They threw all things out, stole passports, technology (notebooks, cameras, mobile phones, current stabilizers) and even some food.

When the Sisters tried to make a video recording of this vandalism, the aggressors destroyed the camera and stole the video cassettes. They thus destroyed the evidence of their unlawful action by which they violated all human rights.

The attackers showed no documents either at the beginning or at the end. So who were they? When the Sisters turned to the Slovak Embassy, the employees said that they had appealed to the police in Ukraine who informed them that it was an action planned beforehand, with the involvement of the immigration authorities and Security Service of Ukraine. However, it is astonishing that the majority of the assaulters were in masks. Simply, it was a terrorist action, a brutal barbaric attack on a nunnery. It was an unlawful act which violated all human rights as well as moral rights of the citizens of the Czech and Slovak Republics residing in Ukraine. It is really shocking! It is an international scandal!

Therefore, we appeal to honest citizens to respond adequately to such brutal treatment and violation of rights of the citizens of the Czech and Slovak Republics on the territory of Ukraine. Ukraine is obliged to observe the rights embodied in the International Charter of Human Rights.

 

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