Lavra lawyer: All Ministry of Culture’s actions in the Lavra are illegal

Lawyer of the Lavra Archpriest Nikita Chekman. Photo: screenshot of the Channel 5 YouTube channel

On May 1, 2023, a court hearing was held on the suit of the Reserve against the monastery of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The judges decided to postpone the consideration of the case until June 5, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, Lavra's lawyer, said on his telegram channel.

In a comment after the court session, the lawyer said that the UOC does not recognize the unilateral termination of the agreement on the indefinite use of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Monastery by the Ministry of Culture.

“All the ongoing actions in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra regarding the work of the commission, forced eviction (of the UOC – Ed.) are unlawful, in our opinion, because the Economic Court of Kyiv is considering the claim of the monastery to invalidate the unilateral refusal of the contract (of the reserve with the monastery – Ed.),” said the lawyer.

He also recalled that the information of the reserve about some violations on the part of the monastery had come to the court from the Ministry of Culture just now.

“That is, before the court, at our request, demanded the documents from the Reserve on what exactly were the violations of the monastery in the Lavra, these documents were not provided to the Church,” the lawyer concluded.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the court requested a substantiation for terminating the contract with the Lavra and postponed the meeting.

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