Court grants DESS lawsuit to dissolve UOC’s Rovenky Eparchy
The appeals court partially granted the DESS lawsuit seeking to dissolve the Rovenky Eparchy but rejected the request to seize its property, citing a gap in Ukrainian legislation.
The Sixth Administrative Court of Appeals in Kyiv has partially granted a lawsuit filed by Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), ordering the dissolution of the administrative body of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Rovenky Eparchy.
In its administrative lawsuit, the DESS sought not only to terminate the religious organization’s activities but also to forcibly transfer all its funds, assets, and property, except for religious property, to state ownership. However, the court rejected the DESS request to confiscate the eparchy’s property and funds, pointing to a significant gap in Ukrainian legislation.
The ruling emphasizes that Ukrainian law does not establish a clear mechanism for seizing property or procedures governing the work of a liquidation commission when religious organizations are dissolved by court order. The judiciary, the court noted, cannot assume the functions of parliament and devise such procedures on its own.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that the DESS had filed a lawsuit seeking the dissolution of the UOC Synodal Department for Family Affairs.
