UOC Law Department: The court did not let the reserve seize Lavra’s buildings

Head of the Legal Department of the UOC Archpriest Oleksandr Bakhov. Photo: news.church.ua

The leadership of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve and the media supporting it resort to manipulation, claiming that the court allowed the commission of the Ministry of Culture to seal the buildings of the monastery. This was stated by the head of the Legal Department of the UOC, Archpriest Oleksandr Bakhov, reports news.church.ua.

Father Oleksandr recalled that the Kyiv Economic Court is now considering two cases against the Lavra: one is on the claim of the monastery against the reserve to invalidate the termination of the lease agreement, the other is on the claim of the reserve to the monastery on the removal of obstacles to the use of property. The court partially satisfied the request of the reserve to secure its claim, forbidding the monastery to interfere with the work of the commission for the transfer and acceptance of property. However, the head of the Legal Department noted, the court's decision to secure the claim is no longer valid, since the commission to which it concerned has already completed its work.

“At present, as far as we know, the reserve has created another commission for sealing the buildings, and there is no court decision granting the right to the reserve or this commission to seize the buildings,” the lawyer said.

He stressed that “no decision on the merits of the case has yet been made in this dispute”, and “the reserve and the media, manipulating concepts, issue a decision on securing a claim for permission to seal the buildings.”

“Thus, the reserve arbitrarily, without an appropriate court decision on the merits of the dispute, breaks the locks and replaces them with its own in the buildings of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, restricts the access of the monastery to these buildings despite the fact that the lease agreement for the premises is valid, and the dispute on invalidation unilateral termination of the contract is pending in court,” summed up Fr. Oleksandr.

As the UOJ reported, on July 6, 2023, the reserve commission, with the strong support of the police, seized three buildings of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, including the residence of the Primate of the UOC. After that, the Ministry of Culture demanded that two more buildings be vacated before July 10.

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