Court resumes consideration of the case on renaming the UOC-MP

In early 2019, the Ministry of Culture published the relevant list of religious organizations in the newspaper "Uryadovyi Kurier" (Government Courier). This is reported by VK with reference to Glavkom and the data of the court register.

Until mid-December 2022, the administrative case was heard by the scandalous Kyiv District Administrative Court (KDAC), which was liquidated by a decision of the Verkhovna Rada. Only on April 12 this year did the DACK transfer the case to the Kyiv District Administrative Court. The presiding judge, Alyona Kushnova, ruled that the proceedings would be conducted under the rules of simplified proceedings, without notifying the parties and based on the materials available in the case.

However, Kyiv Metropolia blocked the actions of the state registrars by filing, in addition to the lawsuit, an application for interim relief. It was immediately considered and granted by the DACK. At the same time, the Kyiv court failed to make a final decision on the UOC-MP's claim for three years.

The Ministry of Culture attempted to appeal the decision of the Kyiv District Administrative Court to satisfy the application for interim relief in two courts. However, it was in vain. Now the Kyiv District Administrative Court must start considering the church's claim against the Ministry of Culture from the very beginning.

In addition, the new head of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, religious scholar Viktor Yelenskyy, noted that the Verkhovna Rada has registered a government bill to amend certain laws of Ukraine regarding the activities of religious organizations in Ukraine.

"It says that the activities of religious organizations whose centers are located in a country that has committed or is committing aggression against Ukraine are not allowed. This is the first position. The second position is that it is necessary to find out whether this or that religious organization has a center in a country that has committed aggression against Ukraine. For this purpose, a religious expert examination is performed... The experts found that the UOC does have a connection with the center in Moscow. And if a connection is established, the state body that implements policy in the field of religion issues an order, saying, "Dear religious organization, please eliminate this connection in this way. Time is given for this. If the religious organization fails to do so, the state body goes to court to terminate the activities of the organization," the official explained.

At the end of 2021, after unsuccessful attempts to intimidate the Ukrainian authorities with rallies, the UOC-MP, through its political scientists, promoted the idea that the ratings of the Servant of the People and even President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky would increase if the renaming law was not applied to the UOC-MP.