UOC community of Kinakhovtsy upholds its right to court defense

UOC community of vlg. Kinakhovtsy

The Court of Appeal upheld the right of UOC believers of vlg. Kinakhovtsy of the Zbarazh destrict, Ternopol region, to defend their interests in the court of first instance. The collegiums of the Lvov Administrative Court of Appel and the Ternopol District Court of Appeal resumed the lawsuits filed by this community in defense of their right to exist. The claims were rejected in the first instance on the pretext that the community of the canonical Church, registered in favor of the Kiev Patriarchate, does not exist as a legal entity, and therefore cannot act as a party to the lawsuit, reports by an UOJ correspondent.

An important intermediate victory of the UOC community of the village of Kinakhovtsy was achieved in stages, in January and in the first decade of March 2018.

The Ternopol District Court of Appeal ruled that the Zbarazh District Court unlawfully returned the claim to the representatives of the UOC community, which challenged its re-registration in the unit of the Kiev Patriarchate. In the first instance, they wrongly concluded that the claim of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul parish was allegedly sealed by the defendant's seal, resulting from the disputed changes in the statute of the community of the UOC KP, although the stamp clearly shows who owns the seal.

The claim of the UOC believers of the village of Kinakhovtsy was left without motion, and it was decided in the appellate instance that such a decision of the district court violated the right to a fair trial established in article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The plaintiffs challenged the decision of the general meeting, on the basis of which the State Registrar made changes to the statute of the UOC parish, resulting in the legal entity disappearing from the register.

On March 7, 2018, the board of judges of the Lvov Administrative Court of Appeal examined the ruling of the Ternopol District Administrative Court on the lawsuit filed by the UOC believers against the Ternopol Regional State Administration – on the recognition as discriminatory the order of the head of the regional state administration "On the statute of the religious community of the UOC KP of the village of Kinakhovtsy of the Zbarazh District in a new edition". On January 12, 2018, this claim was also returned under the pretext of non-compliance with the norms and requirements of the law, which were allegedly not rectified on time. The decision of the court that accepted the appeal says that the plaintiff made the necessary corrections, filing a suit as an individual – a representative of the injured community of the UOC.

The claims are sent to the court of first instance for review.

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