UOC Sisterhood turns to EU Commission due to believers' rights violation

On July 25, 2022, the All-Ukrainian Sisterhood of the Equal-to-the-Apostle Mary Magdalene announced that they had submitted an appeal to the Council of Europe's European Commission "For Democracy Through Law" regarding persistent violations of the rights of believers. This was reported by the assistant to the deputy of Kamyanets-Podilsky City Council, lawyer and human rights activist Victoria Kokhanovskaya on her Facebook page.

According to Kokhanovskaya, the reason for turning to European structures was the systematic violation of the rights of UOC believers and the article of the Constitution of Ukraine "On Freedom of Religion", as well as the inaction of local authorities, who not only do not protect UOC believers from temple seizures and discrimination, but often openly support OCU raiders.

"The All-Ukrainian Sisterhood of Saint Equal-to-the-Apostle Mary Magdalene, which includes women and children, applied for protection in European countries in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights," the human rights activist wrote.

The lawyer also announced that the Sisterhood of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostle Mary Magdalene plans to hold a "pan-Ukrainian service of women and children to defend their constitutional rights" in Kyiv.

Other goals of the Sisterhood, according to Kokhanovskaya, include "removing Sergey Gamaliy, the head of the military administration of the Khmelnytsky region, Ruslan Gerasymchuk, the head of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Khmelnytsky Region, Aleksandr Bogomol, the head of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Ternopil Region, from office."

Earlier, the UOJ reported that UOC parishioners had united in a sisterhood to protect the rights of believers.

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