On May 3, 2022, the mayor of the city of Konotop (Sumy region, under the control of the Kyiv authorities) Artem Semenikhin signed an "order" to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the territory of Konotop.

Semenikhin belongs to the far-right Svoboda party.

According to the Constitution of Ukraine, mayors of cities, and even presidents, do not have the right to ban churches, parties, public organizations and the media. Even during martial law.

Only a court can ban these organizations.

Thus, Semenikhin committed the crime defined in Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "abuse of power or official authority".

But, most likely, now Semenikhin will not be held responsible for this. After all, a bill has already been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church throughout Ukraine.