Bishop Gedeon (Kharon) wins the trial on return of Ukrainian citizenship

Abbot of the Tithe Monastery Bishop Gedeon of Makarov (Charon). Photo: Facebook

On September 19, 2019, the Kiev District Administrative Court declared unlawful and obligated to cancel the decision of the State Migration Service to deprive of Ukrainian citizenship the abbot of the Tithe Monastery, Gedeon (Kharon) of Makarov (Charon), says the court ruling published on theBabel.

The court ordered the officials of the SMS Office in the Volyn Region to enter information on the cancellation of the decision on the deprivation of Kharon’s citizenship to the relevant registers and reimburse him for the costs of the court fee.

We recall that the abbot of the Tithe Monastery, Bishop Gedeon (Kharon), filed a lawsuit against the State Migration Service in the Volyn region.

The hierarch demanded to invalidate the decision of the State Migration Service of Ukraine in the Volyn Region of June 21, 2018, which cancelled the decision to obtain citizenship by territorial origin in accordance with Part 1 of Art. 8 of the Law of Ukraine “On Citizenship of Ukraine”.

The District Administrative Court of Kiev began proceedings on April 23, 2019.

As reported earlier, the former abbot of the Tithe Monastery of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, Bishop Gedeon of Makarov, wrote a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, in which he disclosed the situation around his illegal deportation and called to defend the rights and freedoms of Ukrainians.

On February 13, 2019, Bishop Gеdeon was deported from Ukraine after his visit to the United States, where he held a working meeting with government congressmen. At the meeting, Bishop Gedeon widely covered the situation related to the violation of international rights of believers and also spoke about radical attacks on temples of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, beatings of believers, and harassment of clergy by radical organizations. On February 18, 2019, the SBU chairman Vasily Gritsak announced that the vicar of the Kiev Metropolis was banned from entering Ukraine as he allegedly has 3 passports.

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