Tkachenko does not rule out forced eviction of UOC from Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko. Photo: O. Tkachenko's Facebook page

Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko does not exclude the eviction of representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra with the involvement of the executive service. He said this on the air of the national telethon, reports strana.news.

Answering the question of whether forced eviction will be applied if the UOC does not vacate the premises of the Lavra, the head of the Ministry of Culture said that "the executive service should work after all court decisions come into force."

As the UOJ wrote, on June 6, Oleksandr Tkachenko said that the commission of the Ministry of Culture had completed the inspection of the Lower Lavra and demanded that the UOC vacate the monastery within three working days. The Legal Department of the UOC called this requirement illegal, groundless and not subject to fulfillment.

The Legal Department recalled that the Kyiv Economic Court is now considering a case filed by the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve against the UOC monastery to "remove obstacles in the use of property", as well as a case filed by the monastery against the reserve to invalidate the latter’s unilateral withdrawal from the agreement, under which the monastery has been using the Lavra buildings and structures since 2013.

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