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Occupation authorities of Crimea to take OCU to court

29.03.2019, 12:40

The Russian authorities in Crimea filed a lawsuit with the requirement to vacate the building in the center of Simferopol, which is now held by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The Minister of Land and Property Relations of Crimea, Anna Aniukhina, told the Russian news agency TASS that the OCU failed to re-register the necessary documents and “is out of the legal framework”, Krym.Realii report.

The Russian authorities in Crimea filed a lawsuit with the requirement to vacate the building in the center of Simferopol, which is now held by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The Minister of Land and Property Relations of Crimea, Anna Aniukhina, told the Russian news agency TASS that the OCU failed to re-register the necessary documents and “is out of the legal framework”, Krym.Realii report.

“This religious organization has not brought its constituent documents in line with the legislation of Russia and is not currently a taxpayer in Crimea, and is not registered with the justice authorities. Therefore, this organization has no ground to hold the premises, the Minsitry of Property takes steps to vacate this space, and filed a suit in court,” said Aniyukhina.

Earlier, it was reported that the management of the Crimean Diocese of the OCU received a letter from the Russian Ministry of Land and Property Relations of Crimea on the early termination of the lease of a building in Simferopol, where the church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is located.

On February 13, the Russian Ministry of Finance of Crimea explained the request to the Crimean Eparchy of the UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate to vacate the building of the Cathedral in Simferopol by the expiration of the agreement with the diocese of the UOC-KP which became the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The OCU appealed to the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in relation to pressure on the Ukrainian Church in the annexed Crimea.

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