Bills on Restitution of Church Property Submitted to Parliament

Two different initiatives on the restitution of religious buildings and property have been submitted to the consideration of the Parliament, namely, Bill 2993 and an alternative Bill 2993-1, the Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF) reported.

Bill 2993 envisages vesting the Cabinet of Ministers with the power to return free of charge religious buildings and property of the state to the ownership of religious organizations. The bill also grants the government the right to “pass decisions regarding the transfer of monuments with national significance to the free use or ownership of religious organizations.”

In addition, the bill envisages the exclusion of 135 objects including the Kyiv Cave Monastery and Pochayiv Monastery from the “List of monuments of cultural heritage which are not subject to privatization,” approved by Law 574-VI of Ukraine in 2008.

The bill has been prepared by deputies representing the Party of Regions and the Communist Party of Ukraine.

The alternative Bill 2993-1 submitted by Volodymyr Yavorivskyi of the Batkivschchyna faction, envisages the introduction of restrictions for the transfer into private ownership including that of religious organizations of “all monuments of state and communal ownership included in the list of objects of cultural and natural heritage and included in the UNESCO world heritage list or recommended for inclusion therein.”

It is proposed to grant the land plots where the monuments are located the status of historic and cultural lands.