Legal Department of UOC: Surprisingly, Dumenko once again resorts to lies

Archpriest Alexander Bakhov. Photo: news.church.ua

The head of the Legal Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, called the words of the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko that his structure allegedly won almost all court proceedings on the seized churches of the UOC as another case of outright lies, the Legal Department reports on its official website.

According to him, on July 7, 2021, another fib by Dumenko appeared in the media about almost all claims won by his structure in the courts against seized or illegally transferred religious communities of the UOC. “To be honest, it is surprising that a person who considers himself a clergyman has once again resorted to outright lies and unreasonably wishful thinking. It would be good if he (Dumenko – editor's note) proved his words with facts,” said Archpriest Alexander Bakhov.

He recalled that until April 2021, procedural issues were resolved in the courts, because it was not precisely determined which court people should appeal to in case of illegal re-registration and seizure of the temple. “In addition, since April 2021, the Supreme Court has determined that the believers of the UOC, in the event of the seizure of their churches, can recourse to the economic courts. Therefore, it is premature to say today that someone won or lost a case,” the lawyer added.

Now the UOC is fighting in the legal field for each seized church, and there are more than 700 of them. The head of the UOC Legal Department called on Dumenko to stop disseminating blatant disinformation and to provide factual evidence in support of his words, if he has any.

He also recalled that earlier the head of the OCU made resonant statements in the media about the re-registration of the UOC community in the village of Sutkivtsi, Khmelnytsky region, allegedly legalized by the Supreme Court of Ukraine. And after studying the text of the court's decision, it turned out that Epiphany's statement was an outright manipulation and did not correspond to reality.

As reported by the UOJ, the Legal Department of the UOC caught Dumenko in manipulation.

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