Draft law 4128 gives a carte blanche for church demolition, – UOC representative (VIDEO)

Archpriest Alexandr Bahov, head of the UOC Law Department, considers draft law 4128 to pose threat not only in terms of making church raiding legitimate. It may allow for the church demolition. It was told by Alexandr Bahov in the program “The Right to Voice” on the topic “What threat does the interference of the Verkhovna Rada into the Church affairs pose?”

“Apart from the fact that draft law 4128 turns on the green light to raiding in the religious sphere, I do not exclude a possibility of outsiders’ interference, said the UOC head of the Law Department. – For instance, there is a church in Live, which is located in a picturesque area. With a land plot. People who might want to build a house there can influence administrative bodies so that the latter adopt an “appropriate decision” to build a block of flats on this plot. They do not even have to go through the red tape – just to identify themselves with a definite religious community would be sufficient.”

Besides, the draft law in question abolishes per se any authority (currently it is a parish assembly under law) that would confirm that decisions made at parish meetings are legitimate.

Draft law 4128 suggests that any person can become a member of the religious community merely by virtue of his/her “self-identification”.

Read also

Estonian Church сhanges its name in response to government demands

The new name has been incorporated into the Church's Charter.

Pope сalls Trump’s plans for mass deportation of immigrants a "disgrace"

The Pontiff believes such measures will not resolve problems.

Pochaiv Lavra accuses Ministry of Culture Commission of illegal inventory

The commission from the Kremenets-Pochayiv Reserve has aimed to inspect churchware and other "movable property" of the monastery.

In Shevchenkove, OCU representatives seize UOC church with police support

The Archangel Michael Church, which the OCU failed to transfer to their jurisdiction through the courts, was taken by force.

OCU plans a church raid following provocation at soldier’s funeral

A provocation at the funeral of a fallen soldier by OCU representatives became part of a campaign to discredit the UOC.

Ukrainian Jews urge ignoring DESS amendments to anti-Semitism law

The United Jewish Community of Ukraine (UJCU) accuses the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) of formalism.