The court denies OCU community the right to UOC church and opens a case

Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Malynsk. Photo: UOJ

The Rivne Court of Appeal denied the OCU community a lawsuit against the church of the Sarny Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Malynsk, Rivne region, and opened a criminal case against it. This was reported by the UOJ correspondent.

The complaint on the removal of obstacles to the use of the Peter and Paul church, which had been filed by activists of the OCU, was considered on November 23. It is noteworthy that the lawsuit was filed not against the religious community of the UOC or the rector of the parish but against an individual Vladimir Gnes.

According to Raisa Prikhodko, a human rights activist from the Sarny diocese, the case was heard by a panel of judges.

The OCU community was unanimously denied the lawsuit.

"The decision is legal, adopted in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine, which guarantees free religion in our state to all denominations," the human rights activist stressed.

She also said that the OCU community had forged documents on the basis of which its lawsuit was filed. After the facts presented to the court against the community of the OCU in Malynsk village, a criminal case of falsification was initiated, and the believers of the UOC were recognized as victims.

"Their certificate of ownership of the church has been falsified," the lawyer said. “They told about the loss of documents by the religious community of the UOC. This is not true. The original document was presented to the court."

It is worth noting that the religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Malynsk has more than 450 parishioners against 50 activists of the OCU. Back in the summer, the latter received a plot of land from the state for the construction of a church and even filled in the foundation, which did not prevent them from further claims to the property of the UOC community.

It will be recalled that the conflict over the Peter and Paul church in Malynsk lasted for two years, and the UOC community has already proved its title to the church in court.

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