They did so only in fascist camps, – expert about bill No. 5309

According to the director of the Ukrainian Institute for Policy Analysis and Management Ruslan Bortnik, bill No. 5309 is an unprecedented intervention in the affairs of the Church. The bill proposes to make changes to the name of religious organizations whose control centre is located in the country recognized by the Verkhovna Rada as an aggressor state. The political scientist expressed his opinion in an interview with the "The First Cossack" channel.

"The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate – there is no such a name: in Ukraine there is only the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This is the official name of the Church, whose centre is in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra," said Ruslan Bortnik. "The UOC is the largest Church in Ukraine. An attempt to rename it by legislative act is a gross violation of the basic rights of organizations and people to their own name. In addition to self-promotion, this is also a discrediting element: if the Church can be renamed in this way, this will give an opportunity to intensify the attack on the UOC and parishes, strengthen schismatic tendencies and squeeze the Church into margins. But I think that even the current parliament is most likely not to do this. In case it should pass, this decision can easily be appealed in any court, including an international one because it is impossible to deprive people of the right to self-determination. This right in modern history was deprived of only once – in fascist concentration camps people were taken away their name, and instead they were given numbers inked on their hand."

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