Believers of Rovno village sue officials due to “transition” to OCU

Holy Protection church in the village of Malaya Liubasha

As it became known to the UOJ, on February 11 the Kostopol district court of Rovno region satisfied the demands of the UOC believers and ordered the officials of Kostopol branch of the National Police to place the information on illegal interference in the affairs of the religious community in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations.

On January 27, 2019, a meeting of the UOC religious community was held in the village of Malaya Liubasha, Kostopol district, Rovno region, at which the parishioners of the church reaffirmed their desire to stay in the bosom of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

On the same day, a meeting of villagers was held in the club’s premises regarding the transition of the UOC Holy Protection parish to the OCU under the chairmanship of Mikhail Malyshevsky with the participation of the secretary of the meeting Liudmila Pigal and first deputy chairman of the United Territorial Community Svetlana Kovalchuk. At the meeting it was also decided to change the statute of the UOC religious community.

According to human rights activist Ilya Ivanchenko, who defends the interests of believers of the UOC diocese of Rovno, the territorial community of the village had no legal basis to make such decisions.

"According to Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine "On Local Self-Government", a territorial community is residents united by permanent residence within a village, a town or a city, which are independent administrative-territorial units; or a voluntary association of residents of several villages with a single administrative center,” comments human rights activist. “Therefore, on January 31, 2019, the religious community filed a statement about the commission of a criminal offense, but the police did not report the crime to the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations and instead decided to establish the circumstances of the case. In this regard, on February 4, a complaint was filed against the inaction of the investigator.”

As reported by the UOJ, previously NGO Public Advocacy published a legal video instruction on how to protect your church from the raider seizure

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