Sect leader Antonin Dognal detained in Lviv for striking woman

An incident occurred late last night on the premises of the former chapel of the Redemptorist Fathers on Pluhova Street in Lviv. A citizen of the Czech Republic and leader of the illegal religious group Antonin Dognal struck the head of a local resident, and as a result she received a concussion and an injured jaw. He was then detained by the police.

Eyewitnesses told RISU that last evening, at about 7-7:30 p.m., two followers of Dognal’s group tried to install a cross on the chapel building. Local residents urged them not to because it is illegal: a court ruling banned construction and changes to the chapel.

The estate of the chapel has been sequestered and proceedings have begun in the executive service. However, the bailiff of the Shevchenko area of Lviv cannot deliver a judicial decision about this to three co-owners of the building, former Basilian nuns, because they will not open the door for the authorities. Thus she asked the residents living near the chapel buildings to immediately notify her if any of the former nuns appear near the chapel.

After the Dognalists installed the metal cross on the chapel, the local residents took it down and placed it next to the building. Between them and the Dognalists there was a verbal fight. Both sides called the police, who registered the illegal action and called for compliance with the order.

That same evening, at about 11:00 p.m., Antonin Dognal came to the chapel with the former nuns. According to local residents, the Doganlists disturbed the public peace and filmed people in the yard. Dognal shouted and offended people. When a local elderly woman named Emilia asked him to stop shouting and put her hand over the lens so to not be filmed, Dognal struck her in the face. Many residents witnessed this and called the police.

Two police and Berkut special unit cars arrived at the scene. The victim wrote a statement, and witnesses signed it. Then the victim was taken to a trauma center, where it was established that she had a concussion and an injured jaw.

The police tried to take Dognal to the district police station to establish his identity and take his statement. However, the former nuns tried to defend him. He also tried to resist but the Berkut officers proceeded to put him in the police car.

RISU learned that Dognal is currently in the Shevchenko district police department of Lviv. Witnesses are giving their statements. Followers of Dognal’s group are picketing in front of the police station.

Several former nuns of a Basilian contemplative monastery in Briukhovychi near Lviv bought a warehouse on 6 Pluhova Street, Lviv, which until 1946 was the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel of the Redemptorist Fathers. Later this building belonged to the Ministry of Defense and then to a research institute. Since Ukraine’s independence, the Lviv Province of Redemptorists has repeatedly tried to lawfully regain control of the chapel, but it eventually fell into private ownership. Then three individuals bought it in May. They were former Basilian nuns. Without permission, they started re-building it. In addition, they began to spread propaganda, which upset the residents. In response, residents have created an initiative group and sued the group of Dognalists for unlawful construction and holding various public religious practices in this building and near it.