Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv ruled an event by representatives of All-Ukrainian Svoboda (Freedom) Organization in protest at a visit by Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarch Kirill to the Saint Sophia Cathedral on Monday legal and not forbidden by the court, but at the same time it found the Svoboda representatives guilty of holding the event and cautioned them, the press service of the Svoboda Organization has reported.
"Today we are basically seeing a mockery of justice, when a court finds a citizen who expresses his constitutional rights guilty, and simultaneously passes a mild judgment in the form of caution," reads an official report from the Svoboda Organization’s press service.
According to the press service, judge of Shevchenkivsky District Court Oksana Retman reviewed the case of Eduard Iholnyk, which was opened under Article 185, Part 1 (violation of the rules for holding mass actions) of the Code of Administrative Violations. Iholnyk and seven other representatives of the Svoboda Organization were detained by the police when attempting to hold a theatrical performance entitled "A Glamorous Tour by a Kremlin KGB Staffer." The judge "passed an absurd judgment – acknowledging that the event was legal and not forbidden by the court, but still finding the Svoboda representatives guilty [of holding the event] and cautioning them," the report said.
As reported, on July 26 at 0930, the police detained eight representatives of the national organization Svoboda (Freedom) who tried to stage a theatrical performance on the pavement on Volodymyrska Street. The action was legal: a report about the action was registered at Kyiv City State Administration under No. 28363, the press service informed. Deputy Chairman of the Svoboda Organization in Kyiv Ruslan Andriyko, Heads of Pechersk District Organization Oleksandr Aronets, Podil District Organization Valentyn Luneiko, Obolon District Organization Vadym Kudovbenko and members of the organization Mykhailo Kubliy, Eduard Iholnykov, Vadym Feschenko and Yevhen Kovalenko were detained.
