OSCE hears report on infringement of rights of UOC believers in Ukraine

On June 22-23, 2017, the OSCE conference on countering discrimination against Christians is being held in Vienna. Representatives of the UOC spoke about the infringement of the rights of believers in Ukraine.

The head of the Representative Office of the UOC at the European International Organizations, Bishop Victor Baryshevsky (Kotsaba), stated about attempts to pass anti-church laws Nos. 4128, 4511 and 5309, seizures of temples and crimes against the parishioners of the UOC.

"Of recent events, we are also concerned about the attempt to seize a temple of our Church in Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk region, with the participation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the assistance of local authorities," said the bishop.

According to him, the UOC considers it necessary to do the following:

• Withdraw anti-church bills from the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada;
• Investigate all violations of the rights of UOC believers;
• Stop preventing the registration of statutes of UOC communities;
• Return to the UOC the seized property;
• Bring to justice those responsible for violence and violation of laws;
• Publicly condemn hate speech and crimes against believers of the UOC.

The full text of the report will be forwarded to the OSCE Secretariat.

From the UOC, the deputy head of the DECR of the UOC Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich and the legal counsellor of the Kiev Metropolis of the UOC, the head of the NGO "Public Advocacy" Oleg Denisov, also took part in the conference.