Expert: Authorities ignore over 1 million appeals of UOC believers

Yuri Reshetnikov. Photo: screenshot facebook.com/1kozaktv

On April 1, 2021, Yuriy Reshetnikov, the ex-head of the State Committee for Religions, said that the Ukrainian authorities ignore more than 1 million appeals of the UOC believers, which testify to problems in state-church relations, the First Cossack reports.

Reshetnikov noted that the Zelensky government continues the anti-constitutional policy of its predecessors towards the Church and does nothing to solve the church problem created under Poroshenko.

The former head of the State Committee for Religions stressed that Poroshenko and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine observed "gross state interference in the affairs of the Church – illegal, in violation of the Constitution of Ukraine, in violation of international acts recognized by our state."

In his opinion, “in 2019, 73% of citizens clearly expressed their attitude, verdict and disagreement, including in the sphere of state-confessional relations. But we see the continuation of that policy."

Reshetnikov noted that "the number of complaints about problems in state-confessional relations has already exceeded 1 million," but "their position is being ignored."

“We have to say that the current government did not assess and correct the problems that were caused by the previous government. Having come to power against the background of criticism of the previous actions, this government was unable to remedy mistakes," Reshetnikov said.

He believes that one of the necessary decisions that can rectify the situation is the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on the abolition of anti-church laws, a decision "which has not been there in two years," as "there are no actions by the Verkhovna Rada."

"None of the 13,000 religious organizations from the UOC can make changes to the charter, legalize the change of the abbot of their church, just because in 2017 someone in the Rada wanted to rename the country's largest religious association," Yuri Reshetnikov, the former head of the State Committee for Religions Ukraine recalled.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that more than a million believers signed an appeal to Zelensky.

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