A Ukrainian court placed under house arrest for two months the abbot of the famous Kyiv-Pechora Lavra monastery, Metropolitan Pavlo, reported DPA, quoted by BTA.

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The metropolitan is suspected of fomenting religious conflicts and justifying Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The court ordered him to wear an electronic tag and banned him from contacting members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The priest denies the charges and described the trial as politically motivated.

The case concerns the use of the cave monastery complex and, more broadly, the position of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

For now, the metropolitan must leave the monastery.

He must serve his sentence under house arrest at the address at which he is registered, but which is not on the grounds of the monastery.

Monks from a famous monastery in Kiev are under threat of expulsion

Earlier in the day, police searched the residence of the head of the church at that location.

"They told me in two words that I was suspected of working for Russia," Pavel said

The head added that he was also summoned for questioning on charges of religious agitation and insulting Ukrainian President Vodolimir Zelensky.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky