Zolochiv court doesn’t allow City Council to demolish UOC priest’s fence

National Corps members destroying the fence of the priest's house in Zolochiv with sledgehammers. Photo: the National Corps website

The Zolochiv District Court of the Lviv Region closed the proceedings on the claim of the Zolochiv City Council demanding to demolish the fence around the house Priest Maxim Yoenko (UOC). The corresponding court decision of September 3, 2020, was published in the Single State Register of Court Decisions.

Earlier, the Mayor's Office of Zolochiv appealed to the court with a demand to oblige the defendant to dismantle the fence around the house of the UOC cleric in Zolochiv, who refused to do so voluntarily in accordance with the order of the city administration dated July 13 this year.

Having considered the materials of the claim and having heard the opinion of the representatives of the parties, the Zolochiv District Court, during the preparatory hearing, concluded that the case is a public law dispute and falls within the competence of the administrative court.

“The dispute, which is the subject of this consideration, is a public law dispute since it arose with the participation of a subject of authority, which exercises in disputed legal relations the power management functions provided to him by the current legislation to identify and eliminate violations in the field of urban planning activities and the improvement of settlements by demolishing the unauthorized fence. The case on the claim of such a subject of authority, who went to court with a claim to dismantle an unauthorized object, in accordance with the above-mentioned prescription of the law, falls under the jurisdiction of administrative courts,” the court's decision says.

Thus, the Zolochiv District Court closed the proceedings “since this dispute is not subject to consideration in courts in the civil procedure”, and indicated to the plaintiff his right to file a corresponding claim with the Lviv Regional Administrative Court in the administrative procedure.

Lawyer of the Zolochiv City Council Kristina Poddubnaya said that the local authorities would seek a positive decision on the case of the forced dismantling of the fence near the house of the UOC cleric in the administrative court.

As reported, Zolochiv authorities filed a lawsuit in order to dismantle the fence at the private site of the UOC cleric Maxim Yoenko, who has been persecuted since July this year.

On September 7, 2020, representatives of the National Corps and ATO veterans held a protest action in front of the Zolochiv City Council, at which they demanded that the “impotent” authorities of Zolochiv take decisive action against the “occupant Church” and threatened to “act differently” otherwise. 

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