In Omsk, a Greek Catholic parish was liquidated at the request of the Ministry of Justice, where security forces confiscated an icon with Stepan Bandera

The Omsk Regional Court has satisfied the claim of the regional Ministry of Justice and liquidated the local Greek Catholic parish of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin, against whose minister a criminal case had previously been initiated. The Ministry of Justice reported the court's decision.

“Gross and irreparable violations in the activities of the local religious organization, which served as the basis for filing a lawsuit, were identified during a joint inspection by the Directorate, the Omsk Region Prosecutor’s Office, and the Federal Security Service Directorate for the Omsk Region,” the department’s statement said.

Earlier, a case was opened against 57-year-old parish minister Igor Maksimov for rehabilitation of Nazism (Part 1 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code) and insulting the religious feelings of believers (Part 2 of Article 148 of the Criminal Code). The court placed him under house arrest.

The criminal prosecution was based on icons depicting the leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement Stepan Bandera, military leader Roman Shukhevych and cardinal priest Yosyp Slipyj. According to the investigation, Maksimov, "being a minister of a local religious organization," deliberately placed the images in the refectory "for viewing by an indefinite number of people."

The SHOT Telegram channel wrote that the images were removed from the church last year after parish visitors contacted the police. Maksimov then reported that he had hung the icons in the church "on the orders of the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Svyatoslav Shevchuk." They had a preventive conversation with him, but later a criminal case was opened anyway.

During the search, as reported by the Telegram channel, prayer books in Ukrainian and books on the history of the "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" were found on Maksimov. The FSB recording shows books with the titles "History of the UPA", "Banderites" and "The Black Book of Ukraine" in Ukrainian. In the video published by the Investigative Committee, one can see the book "The World Society of Masons: Essence and Goals". Other books found during the searches are hidden in the investigators' recording.