UOC Law Dept: Cabinet of Ministers puts pressure on Constitutional Court

Andrey Yurash. Photo: pravlife.org

The UOC Law Department reported on the pressure from the head of the Department for Religious Affairs and promotion of the right of citizens to freedom of worldview and religion under the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers Andrey Yurash on the Constitutional Court, which is now considering compliance with the Constitution of the Law "On Amendments to Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations’ dated December 20, 2018, No. 2662-VIII (on renaming). This is stated in the commentary of the Head of the UOC Law Department, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov.

According to him, on February 4, 2021, Andrey Yurash, during his speech at a press conference in Ukrinform, called on religious organizations to intervene in the consideration of the constitutionality of the law on renaming in the Constitutional Court, called non-interference in the consideration of this case a crime and made a judgement about the Constitutional Court: “We understand what kind of courts we have.”

The UOC Law Department considers such calls by Yurash to be a sign of criminal offences under Part 2 of Article 376 (Interference in the Activities of Judicial Bodies) and Part 1 of Article 364 (Abuse of Power or Official Position) of the Criminal Code.

In this regard, the head of the Law Department, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, turned to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmyhal with a request to fire Yurash, “since his behaviour does not correspond not only to moral and ethical but also to business and service standards. Using his official position, he allowed himself to pressure and interfere in the work of the Constitutional Court, and calls on government bodies and religious organizations to do the same."

As reported, the OCU exerts unlawful pressure on the judicial system.

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