Vyatrovych says when courts to ban UOC communities will start

Volodymyr Vyatrovych. Photo: Liga

MP of Ukraine from the European solidarity party Volodymyr Vyatrovych commented on the adoption of Law 8371, which was passed today by the Parliament. Vyatrovych noted in his account on Facebook that after the law is signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) will start checking religious organisations for their affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church.

“The law directly bans the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Thirty days after its signing by the President and publication, the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience will be able to check religious organisations of Ukraine for affiliation with the Moscow Church. If at least one of the 5 signs of affiliation of a religious organisation with the ROC as defined by the law is detected, such an organisation will receive a prescription to eliminate this affiliation within 30 days. If the link with Moscow is not severed, the state will file a lawsuit to ban the organisation. The judicial procedures of the ban will begin 9 months after the publication of the law,” wrote Vyatrovych.

The MP also stressed that religious organisations covered by the law would be deprived of the right to use communal and state property on the territory of Ukraine.

“Equally important is that religious organisations affiliated with the ROC will be deprived of the right to use state and communal property. If they do not break ties with the Moscow Church, then within two months the contracts for the use of temples that belong to the state or local communities will be cancelled. And this is not about some mythical ‘persecution for the faith’, but about common sense. Because the temples, which are the property of the Ukrainian people, should be used by the Ukrainian, not the Moscow Church,” the MP added.

As reported by the UOJ, political expert, philosopher and blogger Pavel Schelin believes that banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will make Ukraine's unity impossible.

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