Parubiy: The law on renaming UOC is in force despite the court decision

Speaker of the Parliament Andrey Parubiy

The speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Andrei Paruby, stated that the law on renaming the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is in effect, despite its suspension by the Kiev District Administrative Court.

He called the decision of the court absurd.

“We, Ukrainians, received our Church after many centuries,” he declared on the Freedom of Speech program on ICTV on the evening of April 22. “Nobody forbids anyone, but we have the right to go every Sunday to our own Ukrainian church. At the same time, everyone is free to go wherever they want ... There is almost no such interfaith harmony as in Ukraine, I don’t know in which country there is. And the decision of the district court today is, of course, absurd.”

Parubiy stressed that the law is not repealed, it is valid, and the Verkhovna Rada “has a strong enough legal department” to make the case in any court.

On April 22, the Kiev District Administrative Court took the side of the Kiev Metropolis and suspended the forced renaming of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Prior to this, the Constitutional Court opened proceedings on the compliance with the Constitution of the Law “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations’” of December 20, 2018 No. 2662-VIII.

The law obliges the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to change its name and indicate its affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church. Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich said that the renaming of the UOC means raiding. Political analyst Pavel Rudiakov believes that in this way the authorities want to take away church property, including the Lavra.

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