Volyn council reviews reports of pressure and bribery in transfers to OCU

Volyn Regional Council. Photo: Rayon

Legal violations during transfers to the OCU were discussed at a meeting of the Volyn Regional Council, where deputies reviewed cases of alleged pressure and bribery in the transfer of UOC communities, Rayon.in.ua reported.

According to the publication, the regional council discussed the situation in the village of Smolyhiv, in the Torchyn community. Local residents present at the commission meeting claimed that the vote had been accompanied by serious violations: people with no connection to the UOC religious community took part in the assembly, OCU clerics exerted psychological pressure and directly bribed parishioners, and the heads of the local school and kindergarten used administrative leverage.

Since there is court practice of annulling voting results because of procedural violations, members of the temporary oversight commission decided to examine in detail whether the voting results complied with the religious community’s statute. If falsification is established, they recommended challenging the results in court.

In addition, commission chairman Volodymyr Bondar advised OCU activists to prepare carefully for the “transfer” process.

“Unfortunately, legislation in this area is not on the side of the Ukrainian church (the OCU – Ed.), so a transfer into the fold of the OCU is often carried out not thanks to existing legal norms, but in spite of them. Therefore, I believe it is appropriate to initiate an appeal from the regional council to parliament requesting amendments,” he said.

As previously reported by the UOJ, authorities in the Ternopil region stated that there had not been a single transfer to the OCU since 2024.

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