Lavra brethren appeal to the ombudsman due to food and medicine blockade

A police officer in the Lavra. Photo: TG channel "Lavra Now"

Vehicles carrying food and medicine intended for the monks have been stopped from entering the lower part of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, where the UOC monastery is located. This was reported by the monastery's lawyer, Archpriest Nikita Chekman.

In connection with this lawlessness, the brethren have submitted an official appeal to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets. The document states that, in accordance with the current order of the Reserve No. 04-07/91 dated August 10, 2023, the entry and exit of vehicles involved in ensuring the monastery’s vital activities must be carried out without obstruction.

"Contrary to its own order, the management of the National Reserve unlawfully instructed not to allow vehicles with food, medicine, and other essentials for the monks' life onto the territory of the Lower Lavra. Police officers, exceeding their authority, are illegally executing this instruction," the Lavra brethren's appeal says.

Representatives of the monastery emphasize that there is no court decision that has come into legal force regarding the eviction of the monks or the prohibition of their stay on the monastery's territory. Therefore, the brethren are in the Lavra on legal grounds.

The brethren are awaiting a response from the ombudsman, as well as official explanations from the police and the reserve's administration.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Minister of Culture Tochitsky justified the dismissal of the former director of the "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" Reserve, Maksym Ostapenko, by insufficient efforts against the UOC in the Lavra. The acting head of the Reserve Kotliarevska held a meeting with Epifaniy Dumenko, during which the head of the OCU demanded that she "stop the unfounded presence of representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate's jurisdiction in the Reserve's buildings".

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