Oleh Vedmedenko was born in Lutsk on 18 September 1961. In 1997, at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, he founded the Bible School of Spiritual Perfection, and he began his ministry as a deacon in the UOC-KP. In October 2006, after a conflict with that church, he was excommunicated, and on 5 November of the same year he was ordained a priest in the UAOC. In 2012 he became a bishop, from 2013 he headed the Volyn and Galicia eparchy, and from 2015 to 2019 he was the first hierarch of the UNAPC. He served as rector of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Lutsk, was a member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, and was the author of books. His death was marked with an obituary by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine on 17 November.
According to the investigation, in the evening of 14 November, around 21:00–22:00, on Vasyl Moisey Avenue, driver Roman Savych, in a state of intoxication, drove onto the sidewalk in a Mazda 6 belonging to his wife and struck the 60-year-old Vedmedenko. He then tried to flee toward the parking lot of the Promin shopping and entertainment center but was detained by passersby and patrol officers. The bishop died on the morning of 15 November in the Lutsk City Clinical Hospital. Proceedings were opened under Part 3 of Article 286-1 of the Criminal Code, and the detention was carried out under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code. On the evening of 15 November, a litia was held at the church.
A Sentence That Was Never Enforced
The main news that T1 and OBOZREVATEL raised on 17 November concerns not the accident itself but the driver's judicial history. Savych appealed the verdict in the case of the attack on the guards, and on 19 October 2021 the Volyn Court of Appeal upheld it, about three weeks before the crash. However, the punishment was never enforced, and the convicted man remained free. The police could not explain why this happened, and the penal service suggested journalists send an official request. In addition, Savych had previously been held accountable for driving a car with someone else's license plates.
It is important to state precisely what the punishment was. The T1 headline says the driver "should have been in prison," but the sentence was restriction of liberty, not imprisonment. This is a lenient measure that took effect on 19 October and was not in force for a single day. Nevertheless, the outlet drew its main conclusion from this: "The tragedy could have been avoided if the court's decision had been enforced," says the OBOZREVATEL material retold by T1. It also noted that "the convicted criminal continued to remain at liberty." The court would later treat this conviction as an aggravating circumstance.
Arrest and Farewell
In court, where Savych was brought after his detention, he wept and apologized. On 16 November, judge Alla Palyushko chose a preventive measure for him: detention for 60 days without bail. On the same day, the funeral service and burial took place in the courtyard of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ. The family of the vladyka continues to be led by his sons: Vasyl, a priest, became his father's successor at the parish, and Pavlo serves in the same church. The family's lawyer is Roman Khomych.
Savych's defense was initially led by Orest Uryn, and in subsequent stages the driver's interests were represented by Pavlo Poletylo. He also participated in the consideration of the appeal in the case of the attack on the guards. The investigation of the accident was conducted by Andriy Kuts, an investigator of the Lutsk District Police Department, and information for journalists was provided by the Volyn police spokesperson Olha Buzuluk. The driver was detained by lawyer Ihor Vasylyuk and Maksym Olishchuk, who happened to be nearby at the time of the accident.
Savych's detention has been extended until 12 January 2022, and the investigation continues to gather evidence in the case of Oleh Vedmedenko's death.
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