ES MP: Actions of the authorities on UOC are contrary to European obligations

European Solidarity party MP Mykola Kniazhytsky. Photo: Mediananny

On his Facebook page, pro-Poroshenko’s Mykola Kniazhytsky accused the authorities of sabotaging steps to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Kniazhytsky argues that the authorities, ignoring his bill 8221, "are delaying the ban on the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine for an indefinite period."

In his opinion, the legal path chosen by the government in its actions against the UOC "contradicts the international obligations of Ukraine, in particular, those provided for by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the decisions and jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights."

Kniazhytsky cites the words of the representative of the President in the Verkhovna Rada, Fedir Venislavsky, that the authorities intend to ban the UOC in court, “although the ECHR has clearly established that religious associations (in Ukrainian law – religious organizations) can be prohibited by law.”

Criticizing Venislavsky, Kniazhytsky notes that according to Art. 16, part 4, paragraph 5 of the law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”, court decisions concern only religious organizations that have the status of legal entities. At the same time, “the Russian Orthodox Church and the UOC-MP are religious associations that do not have the status of legal entities. Therefore, their activities cannot be prohibited on the basis of this norm of the law ‘On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations’.”

According to the MP, “irreparable harm is eventually inflicted on the interests of the national security of Ukraine, the democracy of our society and state, as well as the rights and freedoms of Orthodox Ukrainians, whom the state is obliged to protect from the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church. And the ROC itself in Ukraine will be allowed to exist and will feel great.”

This, as Poroshenko's MP assures, "cannot be allowed."

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the “ES” and the “Servant of the People” had submitted a bill against the UOC to the Rada.

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