Zelensky undertakes to defend the rights of schismatics in Crimea

The President of Ukraine undertook to defend the OCU in Crimea. Photo: president.gov.ua

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a Decree on the application of economic sanctions against 18 persons who, in his opinion, are involved in the issuance of "unjust" court decisions against the OCU in Crimea. The Voice of Crimea site writes about this. The decisions of the sanctioned judges relate to the alienation of the property of the Crimean diocese of the OCU. Restrictions against judges provide for the blocking of assets, a ban on participation in privatization, leasing state property and preventing the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine for up to five years.

The “property of the OCU” previously included a building in Simferopol, where the Cathedral of St. Vladimir and Olga, as well as the administrative office of the Crimean diocese of the OCU (formerly the Crimean diocese of the UOC-KP – Ed.) was located. Before the events of 2014, the schismatics rented premises in the very center of Simferopol almost free of charge, for 1 hryvnia per year. Then the Russian Ministry of Property offered the tenants from the OCU to renegotiate the contract. But the "archbishop" of the OCU Kliment Kushch objected to that "out of principled convictions". In the meantime, the Crimean Orthodox Spiritual Center LLC was actively functioning in the premises of the cathedral, which was engaged, in particular, in the trade in medicines and food. In early September 2017, the "father of the OCU", the fifth president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, accused the Russian authorities of Crimea of persecuting the UOC-KP in Simferopol and discriminating against this organization on the peninsula.

The “hierarch” of the OCU Kliment submitted documents to the Crimean Ministry of Justice when the court hearings on the case of the cathedral had already begun. The court repeatedly sent the papers for revision, citing the fact that they were not properly documented, and eventually terminated the lease. Later, a citizen of the Russian Federation Kliment Kushch began a hunger strike due to the inaction of Ukraine to protect the OCU in Crimea.

In 2019, Kliment Kushch turned to Russian President Vladimir Putin for help “to personally take this situation under control” and to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.

The UOJ wrote that in January 2022, Filaret Denisenko filed a lawsuit to renew the registration of the UOC-KP in Ukraine.

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