Metropolitan Paul gives evidence in court, says Maybach was presented to him

Head of the Belarusian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Paul was summoned to court to testify as a witness at the hearing of the case of ex-head of the Belarusian exarchate Uladzimir Hrozau, officelife.media reports. This is the first time in the history of independent Belarus when a top cleric appears in a courtroom.

Hrozau was fired when Metropolitan Paul became the head of the Belarusian Orthodox Church (BOC). The work of the head of the editorial office was considered unsatisfactory. A criminal case was started against him a few months later.

Metropolitan Paul regrets the fact that the BOC initiated the trial. He has asked President Lukashenka to close the criminal case. There were violations in how the editorial office was, some taxes had not been paid, he said. However, the complaints abd reports on Hrozau ‘were the result of the fight for power.’ The BOC head asked to release Hrozau.

"I was presented a Maybach for my 65th anniversary,” Metropoltan Paul confessed in court. Cars were presented to him many times and he gifted them to monasteries and parishes, he said. The BOC head owns two cars at the moment.

Metropolitan Paul was born in Kazakhstan in 1962 and moved to Belarus in 2014. He used to be the Archbishop of Ryazan until Moscow appointed him to the position of the the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus. The appointment of the metropolitan who was not a Belarusian citizen and could not speak Belarusian was accepted by Belarusiansd with mixed feelings. Metropolitan Paul is notorious for a number of scandalous statements, including the ones on the Uniates also known as Greek Catholics).