The Judge tendentiously prolongs the court hearing of Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid

The Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric – Church of Serbia- March 2016

Today (11/3/16) an attempt was made to hold the second hearing of the repeated court process against Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid, the Bishops Marko of Bregalnica and David of Stobi, the clergy, monastics and the believers of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric.

The judge ascertained that despite the several attempts that were made, the court was not able to reach the witness who, on the suggestion by the Public Prosecutor on the previous hearing, was to be called to testify. The false witness, upon whose testimony the court founded the previous verdict, suddenly became unreachable for the court.

The judge scheduled the next hearing for the end of April this year.

Also, although literally all funds from the bank account  of the Association for Protection and Promotion of Religious Freedoms “Anastasia” were confiscated by the court, following the previous verdict, and the account is completely empty, the judge still refuses to unblock it, thus unlawfully hindering the functioning of “Anastasia’s” bank account, which is the only bank account through which the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric can operate.

The first hearing of this repeated court process was scheduled for July, last year, and today, nine months afterwards, the judge was only able to hold the second hearing.

Indicative is also the fact that the judge schedules the hearings in time periods of two months, through which he tendentiously and perpetually prolongs this politically rigged, state persecution on religious basis, against the canonical Church, the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric.

We are reminding that in the last 14 years, not a single day has passed without an ongoing rigged court process against the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric or without an ongoing prison sentence of Archbishop Jovan!

The relevant international reports are continually pointing out that the proverbial domestic judiciary is the most corrupted and most subjective to political influences segment of our society.

Source: