DESS ex-head: It’s absurd to seek UOC–ROC links in aggressor state documents

Former head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, Olena Bohdan. Photo: Suspilne

Former head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), Olena Bohdan, has pointed out serious legal contradictions in the procedure for reviewing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) for alleged ties to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). She made the comments during a broadcast on Suspilne television.

Bohdan underscored that, under Law 3894, a religious organization can be banned on the basis of just one of seven criteria indicating affiliation with Moscow. However, she noted that some of these criteria refer directly to documents issued in the aggressor state. “Criteria three and four refer to the presence of certain provisions in charter documents of the aggressor state,” the former official explained.

She called the situation absurd: if something is written in the ROC’s statutory documents, then any Ukrainian commission would be obligated to apply that as evidence against the UOC.

Bohdan highlighted the contradiction between the demands of Ukrainian legislation and international legal standards.

“According to international practice and the legal norms currently accepted in the Western world – and Ukraine has committed to European integration – it is impermissible to impose legal consequences on Ukrainian citizens based on documents issued in another country, especially one officially designated as an aggressor,” she stressed.

In her view, the law creates a scenario in which the UOC is powerless. She pointed out that the legal criteria outlined in the legislation are entirely beyond the Church’s control, resulting in an irresolvable legal paradox.

“The State Service will be issuing sanctions simply because something is written in ROC documents – from the aggressor state. The law sets requirements that cannot be fulfilled,” she concluded.

Earlier, the UOJ had analyzed the absurdity of a situation in which the government attempts to prove UOC's ties to an aggressor state using that very state's documents.

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