UOL on "renaming" the Church: Constitutional Court must put an end

The Constitutional Court has not yet considered the case on the compliance of the law on renaming the Church with the Constitution. Photo: depositphotos.com

The human rights organization Union of Orthodox Lawyers (UOL) hopes that the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) will soon put an end to Law No. 2662-VIII (on the names of religious organizations) and recognize it as contrary to the Constitution. This is stated in a message published in the UOL’s tg-channel on Tuesday, March 23rd.

Human rights activists noted that for several years "the state has persisted with its legislative attempts to establish exactly how Ukrainians can exercise and observe their religious rights." A case in point is the law on the forced renaming of the Church (No. 2662-VIII), adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on 12/20/2018.

“With this law, the legislator determined the criteria (signs), which, in his opinion, unanimously testify to the subordination of the corresponding religious organization to the governing center (administration), which is located in the state that carried out military aggression against Ukraine and / or temporarily occupied part of the territory of Ukraine, i.e. the Russian Federation. Furthermore, on revealing such signs, the legislator obliged the religious organization in its full name to state its affiliation with such a religious organization outside of Ukraine,” the UOL recalled.

The lawyers explained that this law does not correspond to the Constitution of Ukraine and contradicts the principles of separation of the Church from the state, and “this is exactly the point of view that 49 MPs of Ukraine adhere to in their constitutional motion <...>, which has been under consideration of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine."

According to the UOL, though the CCU has not yet considered this case, “it did not prevent the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine from adopting an Order, according to which the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and a number of religious organizations should amend their official name and submit appropriate changes to their statute for registration until April 26, 2019."

Human rights activists recalled that the effect of this Order of the Ministry of Culture was suspended by the District Administrative Court of Kyiv, since its implementation "may lead to unjustified interference of the state in the sphere of activities of a religious organization as a legal entity."

“It is a shame that state bodies, in the language of the administrative court, interfere unjustifiably in the sphere of activities of a religious organization. Because of this, millions of believers are forced to recourse to Ukrainian courts. The UOL hopes that in the near future the Constitutional Court of Ukraine will put an end to this issue and recognize the Law of Ukraine No. 2662-VIII as inconsistent with the Constitution," the Union of Orthodox Lawyers summed up.

Let us remind you that according to the UOC Chancellor, believers do not understand why the discriminatory laws, adopted by the previous government, are still in effect.

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