Volyn RSA discusses trial-caused "delays" in expropriation of UOC churches

Meeting at the Volyn Regional Administration regarding the situation with UOC churches, March 7, 2025. Photo: Pershyj

On March 7, 2025, the Volyn Regional Administration (RSA) held another meeting to monitor the implementation of its previous decisions "banning the activities of the UOC and preventing its communities from using religious buildings that are architectural monuments," according to the regional website pershyj.

Officials, law enforcement agencies, and regulatory bodies took part in the session. The main focus was on the eviction of the UOC community from the Assumption Cathedral complex in Volodymyr. The lease agreement with the religious community expired in July 2023, yet the UOC still continues to use the site, the report says.

According to Olha Chubara, head of the RSA's Department of Culture, the legal dispute over this matter in the North-Western Commercial Court of Appeals has been postponed until March 11, 2025. She assured the commission members that as soon as the court delivers a ruling, the administration will immediately notify the religious community and schedule an inspection for the official transfer of the church property.

Another ongoing court case concerns "removing obstacles to the use" of another national cultural heritage site – the UOC’s Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Kamin-Kashyrskyi. Chubara informed that on February 11, 2025, a lawyer representing the OCU religious organization filed a lawsuit in the Kamin-Kashyrskyi District Court, demanding "the removal of obstacles in exercising ownership rights by vacating the church building and the land plot." As of today, the case has not yet been scheduled for a hearing, the official stated.

"We cannot interfere in any way here. We must wait for court rulings at various levels. I hope they will be favorable, and then we will return to these matters and coordinate our next steps," said Volodymyr Bondar, chairman of the temporary commission.

As previously reported by the UOJ, the UOC religious community appealed the ruling of the Volyn Regional Commercial Court, which ordered the return of the Assumption Cathedral in Volodymyr to the state.

In Kamin-Kashyrskyi, the UOC parish was transferred to the OCU while its priest was serving at the front.

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