Court hearing on lawsuit to ban UOC-MP begins in Kyiv
30 October 11:32
A trial on a lawsuit to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has begun in Kyiv.
This was reported by lawyer Nikita Chekman, representing the interests of the UOC, on his Facebook page, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to him, the trial was supposed to begin on September 30, but was postponed for a month. The reason for the postponement was the illness of the judge.
The lawsuit to ban the UOC-MP was filed in late August by the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience on the basis of a law initiated by Vladimir Zelensky and adopted in the summer of 2024.
As is known, the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC-MP did not comply with the DESS order to sever ties with the ROC, and then it was recognized as affiliated with the Russian Church and filed a lawsuit to officially liquidate this structure. The first meeting was supposed to take place on September 30, but it was postponed for a month – the judge fell ill.
After the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience recognized the CM of the UOC-MP as affiliated with the Russian Church, this status imposed very serious restrictions on their activities. This primarily concerns the use of property: if a religious organization is recognized as affiliated, then agreements are terminated with it for the use of state and municipal property. There are also other restrictions, and they concern not only the Kyiv Metropolis as a center, but also about one and a half hundred religious organizations that are associated with it.
And now the notification of the recognition of the CM of the UOC MP as affiliated has been received by the State Property Fund of Ukraine and local governments – and this is a kind of manual for them to begin the early termination of the right to use property.
