PM’s office condemns desecration of Reformed church in Transcarpathia

The recent incident against the Reformed church of Berehove (Beregszász) “desecrating a holy place” which represents an important centre of the ethnic Hungarian community in Ukraine, is shocking and appalling, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Friday.

Unknown perpetrators painted a Satanist symbol in red on the church’s wall on Thursday night.

A series of incidents suffered by ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia in recent months, including a petrol bomb attack against the headquarters of Hungarian cultural association KMKSZ, give reason for concern, a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén and state secretary for ethnic minorities János Árpád Potápi said.

The most recent incident targeting the Hungarian community’s religious centre, violates religious tolerance that has always characterised residents in Transcarpathia, the statement said. The Hungarian government expresses its solidarity with the ethnic Hungarian community and expects the Ukrainian authorities to reveal the background leading to the attack and find the perpetrators in order to prevent similar instances from happening in the future as well as guarantee the security of ethnic Hungarians in Transcapathia, it added.

As we wrote on March, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó have firmly condemned the vandalisation of cars with Hungarian number plates also in Transcarpathia’s Berehove (Beregszász).

Source: MTI