Court orders MinCulture to provide evidence of UOC’s "violations" at Lavra

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Photo: the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s website

On June 14, 2023, the Economic Court of Kyiv held a meeting on the claim of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Monastery against the Reserve in the case to invalidate the unilateral termination of the agreement with the UOC, reports the lawyer of the Lavra, Fr Nikita Chekman, on his Telegram channel.

The lawyer said that the court upheld the Monastery's claim and obliged the Reserve to provide evidence of the UOC’s "violations" at the Lavra, which allegedly caused the Church's perpetual lease agreement for the Lower Lavra to be terminated.

"The Reserve accuses the Monastery of violating the terms of the Agreement, in support of which it refers to certain acts and results of inspections (in which, incidentally, neither representatives of the Monastery nor the Reserve participated). As a consequence, the conclusions of the inspections look very doubtful, without appropriate confirmation of who and how allegedly established the violations," the lawyer wrote.

Having satisfied the claim of the Monastery, the court obliged the Ministry of Culture to provide "evidence" of violations by the UOC in the Lavra and postponed the hearing until July 5, 2023.

Fr Nikita Chekman urged Tkachenko to "first comply with the court ruling before announcing to the public when the Economic Court of Kyiv (independent and apolitical) should make the final decision on the Lavra".

Earlier, the UOC is appealing in court against the DESS's "religious expertise".

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