Luhansk priest arrested on charge of leading armed attacks on polling stations

14:56, 02.06.2014 1 min read

A prior of a Christian Orthodox church, Volodymyr Maretsky, who is accused by the Ukrainian security authorities of organizing armed attacks on polling stations in the Novoaidar district in Luhansk region on May 26, has been remanded for two months.

"He has been remanded into custody for two months with no option of having it replaced with bail," spokesman for the Kharkiv regional office of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) Vladyslav Abdula told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.

Thirteen people were arrested following an armed attack on several polling stations in the Novoaidar district of the Luhansk region on May 26. They included the group leader Maretsky, who is "an activist of the Don-based Cossack community" and heads a local church of the Moscow Patriarchate, as well as B. Saklakov, an employee of a prosecutor's office in Dzhankoi.