Kiev, July 15, 2020
Photo: spzh.news
Five years after the murder of Fr. Roman Nikolaev, former rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana in Kiev of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, a suspect has finally been identified and apprehended.
Fr. Roman was attacked at the entrance to his house on the night of July 26, 2015. Two unknown men ambushed him, shot him twice in the head, then took his personal belongings, leaving him for dead. Fr. Roman died from his wounds on July 29. It was noted at that time that his parishioners greatly loved him.
Fr. Roman served as a priest for just two years before he was brutally murdered.
One of the attackers was a 46-year-old resident of Kiev who has repeatedly been in trouble with the law. He is now being held under article 115 of the Ukrainian criminal code for “intentional unlawful causing of death of another person, committed out of self-interest by prior agreement of a group of persons,” reports the site of the Kiev Prosecutor’s Office.
The Shevchenko District Court of Kiev decided to keep the suspect in custody without bail. The identity of his accomplice has not yet been established, and the pre-trial investigation continues.
