Ukrainian court rules to keep Kiev-Pechersk Lavra abbot in jail

Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/: Kiev’s district court has granted the motion of the Ukrainian Security Service and changed detention conditions for Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery, from round-the-clock house arrest to detention in custody with the possibility of bail worth over 33 million hryvnas (over $900,000), the Ukrainian online newspaper Strana reported on Friday.

The RBC Ukraine agency said that he court put the archbishop under arrest until August 14.

It was previously reported that prosecutors asked the court to place the archbishop of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) into custody until September 1, with a possible bail of 60 million hryvnas ($1.64 million). The high-ranking clergyman said at the beginning of the hearing that he would be arrested with a 99% probability.