UOC is not “MP”, not “Moscow priests”: Lavra’s lawyer sues Channel 5

Lawyer of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Archpriest Nikita Chekman. Photo: screenshot of the video on the Pershy Kozatsky YouTube channel

The lawyer of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, filed a lawsuit with the Podolsky District Court of Kiev to protect honor, dignity and business reputation and to refute false information that was made public in the Channel 5 story.

“On May 1, 2023 Channel 5 distributed a video ‘Claim of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Reserve against the UOC-MP: the preparatory meeting was postponed to June 5’,” the lawyer said on his Telegram channel. “Throughout the entire video recording, they call me as a lawyer ‘a representative of Moscow priests, ex-owners of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.’ I note that I, Nikita Chekman, am a representative of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (monastery) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which is the Respondent in this case, not the ‘UOC-MP’.”

The lawyer emphasized that Channel 5's information is "inaccurate, disseminated using incomplete, distorted information" and causes negative associations, associating him "with a certain non-existent structure (‘MP’)."

In this regard, Father Nikita asks the court to oblige Channel 5 to make a public apology on the air of the Chas Novyn program.

“We call on all media outlets to observe the rules of journalistic ethics and not to manipulate the minds of citizens by calling the Ukrainian Orthodox Church ‘MP, Moscow Patriarchate, Moscow priests’ and other, sometimes completely uncultured, offensive names or comparisons. We underscore it again that there are no religious organizations of the ‘Moscow Patriarchate’ in Ukraine but there is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” said Archpriest Nikita Chekman.

As reported by the UOJ, the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, said that Channel 5 is an enemy of the Ukrainian state.

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