(MENAFN) The United Nations has launched a preliminary inquiry into Moldova's decision to prevent a senior Orthodox bishop from attending an Easter religious ceremony in Jerusalem. A spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Tamin Al-Kitan, confirmed to RIA Novosti that the agency is currently reviewing details of the incident.

Bishop Marchel of the Moldovan Orthodox Church was set to participate in the Holy Fire ritual at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. However, he reported that Moldovan police stopped him and two clerics at the airport, subjected them to searches, and delayed their release until their flight had already departed.

“We’ve received the inquiry and forwarded it to our colleagues for verification,” Al-Kitan said.

The incident sparked harsh backlash from Moldova’s political opposition. Former President Igor Dodon and his Party of Socialists condemned the move, calling it an “act of terror” against Moldova’s Orthodox Christians and a direct attack on the country’s religious traditions. The party labeled the action a “crime against the Moldovan people” and a threat to national identity.

The Russian Orthodox Church also weighed in, denouncing the event as politically driven and intentionally offensive to the Moldovan Orthodox Church.

Moldova has long experienced religious tensions between two major Orthodox branches: the Moldovan Orthodox Church, affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Metropolis of Bessarabia, which is aligned with the Romanian Orthodox Church. Critics have accused President Maia Sandu’s pro-European administration of trying to pressure the Moscow-linked church to switch allegiance.

Some Moldovan officials, including MP Vasile Soimaru, have claimed that the government may be following Ukraine’s path. Last year, Kiev banned the Ukrainian Orthodox Church due to alleged ties with Moscow, shifting support to the newly established Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which has since attempted to take over church properties held by the banned organization.

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