Miriane starts legal protection of Bakhtyn UOC community's right to church

Miriane talk with the mayor of Bakhtin. Photo: screenshot of the video of the Miriane youtube channel

On November 26, 2021, representatives of the Miriane Public Union came to the village of Bakhtyn, Murovanokurylivtsi district, Vinnytsia region, to protect the rights of the local community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to their St. Nicholas temple, the organization said on its Telegram channel.

“We asked the head of the village to return the keys to the temple. You can see with your own eyes how worried the representative of the authorities is when he is spoken to in the language of law and warned about his possible prosecution in case of violation of legal norms,” the Miriane noted. The union believes that based on the law, they will be able to restore the violated rights of UOC believers in Bakhtyn.

We will remind that the St. Nicholas community of UOC in Bakhtyn has been blocked in access to a temple by activists of OCU with the connivance of local authorities and law enforcement officers for the third year now. The latest incident occurred on November 17, when the police sided with OCU supporters and barred UOC priests and believers from entering the church. At the same time the day before the chief of the Mogilev-Podilsky Regional Department of National Police in the Vinnytsia region Vasily Obodovsky got familiar with the documents and the court decisions confirming the right of the St. Nicholas community of UOC to the church and assured that law enforcers wouldn't interfere.

As reported by the UOJ, the laity of the UOC intend to support the community in Bakhtyn, which is not allowed into the church.

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