Constitutional Court begins considering the case of renaming UOC

The hall of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. Photo: cem.kiev.ua

On February 11, 2020, at the public part of the plenary session, the Grand Chamber of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine began to consider the case on the conformity of the Constitution of Ukraine to the law on renaming religious organizations, including the UOC, reports the website of the Court.

The Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine is Alexander Tupitsky; the proceedings take place in the form of written proceedings.

The meeting was also attended by Alexander Dolzhenkov and people's deputy of Ukraine Vadim Novinsky – representatives of 49 deputies who filed a constitutional submission in this case.

The Grand Chamber of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine completed the study of the case materials and moved on to the closed part to make a decision.

The judge-rapporteur in the case, Irina Zavgorodniaya, acquainted those present with details of the constitutional submission of the people's deputies of Ukraine.

She said that the Court invited the President of Ukraine, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, the Chairmen of the Committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Culture and Spirituality, Rules and Work Organization of the Verkhovna Rada, as well as the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, to voice their position on the case.

The court also appealed to a number of higher educational institutions and the public union “Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union” to provide the judges with conclusions on the case.

The Court will continue considering the constitutional submission at one of the following plenary sessions.

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko) of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol urged the flock on his Telegram channel to read the akathist to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker so that the judges of the Constitutional Court make an unbiased and objective decision that guarantees the implementation of the Constitution and protects the canonical Church from forcible renaming.

“Given the significance of the case under consideration, I urge all faithful children of the Church, believers of the Zaporizhzhia Eparchy, from tomorrow morning to 10:00 every day until the decision is made, to read the akathist to St. Nicholas of Myra, who we resort to in pious traditions at the time of court hearings and litigation,” he wrote.

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