Kyiv Metropolis seeks court-ordered dissolution of DESS
Lawyers representing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church argue that the state agency was created unlawfully and are seeking its dissolution over what they describe as pressure on believers.
The Kyiv Metropolis has filed a lawsuit with the Kyiv District Administrative Court challenging the legality of the Cabinet of Ministers’ decision to establish the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS). The announcement was made by UOC attorney Archpriest Mykyta Chekman.
The lawsuit challenges the government resolutions by which DESS was established and vested with the authority to formulate state policy in the field of religion. According to the Metropolis’s legal team, the Cabinet unlawfully delegated to the Service powers that, under Ukrainian law, may be exercised only by ministries. The plaintiff argues that these actions violate both the Constitution of Ukraine and the legislation governing central executive authorities.
The lawsuit was prompted by DESS’s own actions toward the Kyiv Metropolis. The agency conducted inspections concerning the Metropolis’s alleged affiliation, issued mandatory directives, and subsequently filed a lawsuit seeking the liquidation of the legal entity and the transfer of its property to the state.
In its claim, the UOC asks the court to declare unlawful and invalidate the Cabinet of Ministers’ resolutions under which DESS was created and continues to operate, and to order the government to dissolve the agency as an unlawfully established state body.
As the UOJ previously reported, lawyers for the Kyiv Metropolis earlier challenged a regional council's decision promoting the transfer of UOC communities to other religious jurisdictions.
