The chief lawyer of the Moscow Patriarchate claims that the decision of the KSU does not bind them to anything.
of the Constitutional Court” alt=”UPC MP refused to indicate affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church in its name despite the decision of the Constitutional Court” />
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate refused to rename its religious organization and indicate its affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church. In particular, the head of the legal department of the UOC, Archpriest Oleksandr Bakhov, said that the decision of the KSU regarding the constitutionality of Article 12 of the law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” does not oblige the UOC to change its name.
“The Constitutional Court of Ukraine recognized the law on renaming as constitutional. At the same time, it should be noted that the decision of the Constitutional Court does not oblige the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to change its name, it only concerns compliance with the law on renaming the Constitution of Ukraine,” Bakhov was quoted in the legal department of the UOC.
The archpriest claims that allegedly “in the law itself does not contain any mention of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”.
“Statutory documents indicate that the UOC is registered in accordance with Ukrainian legislation, its founder is the UOC Cathedral, its religious center, like all administrative bodies, are located in the city of Kyiv. Therefore, all attempts to forcefully apply this law to the UOC will increase the number of violations of the right to freedom of conscience and religion in Ukraine,” Bakhov said.
Therefore, according to him, despite the decision of the KSU, “it should be noted that there are currently no any legal grounds for changing the name of religious organizations belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”.
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It will be recalled that on December 27, the Constitutional Court announced a decision by which it found the amendments to Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” to be in line with the Constitution, which provide for changes to the name of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which must indicate its affiliation to Russia.< /p>
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted draft law No. 5309 four years ago – in December 2018, but it never entered into force, because deputies from the then Opposition bloc filed a statement with the Constitutional Court . In turn, the KSU did not consider this case for four years.
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In addition to the obligation to change the name, the law established restrictions on the access of clergymen, religious preachers, mentors of religious organizations, whose leadership is located in the state that commits aggressor actions against Ukraine, to parts, compounds in wartime conditions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations of Ukraine in the places of their deployment or other military formations of Ukraine in the places of their deployment or other restrictions.
