Zaporizhzhia Eparchy discusses protection of rights of UOC believers

Zaporizhzhia clerics and IOHR Coordinator Viktoria Shevchenko. Photo: hramzp.ua

On March 11, priests of Zaporizhzhya met with the coordinator of the International Organization for Human Rights (IOHR) in the Zaporizhzhia region Viktoria Shevchenko at the Holy Protection Cathedral. The meeting discussed mechanisms of protection of religious rights and freedoms, reports the press service of the Zaporizhzhia Eparchy.

The attendees discussed the specifics of the religious situation in Ukraine and the general negative trends in the church sphere: seizures of churches, illegal re-registration of communities, the procedure for conducting pre-trial investigations and violation of reasonable trial deadlines, the procedure for applying to law enforcement agencies, publications, and dissemination of deliberately false information in the media and social networks, provocations, and incitement of hatred, in particular on the scandalous website "Mirotvorets", actions of the organization "Demsokira" and other relevant issues.

As the participants of the meeting noted with regret, the UOC has no obligatory legal support, which is used by radicals and schismatic activists.

As a result, the parties decided on possible cooperation in order to identify violations, to monitor court trials, to conduct educational activities, to identify religious issues in Europe and apply positive experience.

As reported earlier, a representative of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Juan Maria Castriion, visited the village of Birky of the Oleksandrivka district, Kirovohrad region, whose community was illegally re-registered to the OCU.

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