Constitutional Court recognizes UOC renaming as legal

The Constitutional Court has ruled the law against the UOC lawful. Photo: UOC

On December 27, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled on the case on the constitutional request of 49 people's deputies on the constitutionality of the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations’” regarding the names of religious organizations (associations) which are included in the structure (are part) of a religious organization (association) whose governing centre (administration) is located outside Ukraine in a state that is recognized by law as having carried out military aggression against Ukraine, reports the CCU Communications and Legal Monitoring Department.

The Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled that this law is consistent with the Constitution of Ukraine.

The Law established restrictions in conditions of war on the access of clergymen, religious preachers, and mentors of religious organizations, whose governing centre (administration) is located outside Ukraine in the state that is recognized by the law as such that carried out military aggression against Ukraine and/or temporarily occupied part of the territory of Ukraine, to units of the AFU and other military formations of Ukraine or other restrictions, stipulated by the Law.

The CC ruling said that the Court took into account the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Ilyin and Others against Ukraine, which stated, in particular: "the very fact that the state requires a religious organisation wishing to be registered to adopt a name which makes it impossible to mislead believers and society as a whole and which makes it possible to distinguish it from existing organizations can, in principle, be considered a justified restriction of its right to freely choose its name".

The decision and its summary will be published on the official website of the Constitutional Court on 28 December 2022. In addition, a briefing of the judges-rapporteurs on the case will take place on Wednesday, 28 December 2022 at 9.30 a.m.

During the briefing, the media will be informed of the details of the decision.

As reported, the new head of the State Ethnopolitics Committee Yelensky said that the state may forcibly rename the UOC.

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