Only the court can terminate the activities of religious organizations affiliated with the ROC - DESS
This was reported by Ukrayinska Pravda with reference to the post of the DESS on Facebook.
“The adopted law does not prohibit the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) as such. It provides for the severance of its ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, which is inseparable from the Russian regime and actively contributes to war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities committed by the Russian Federation in the course of armed aggression against Ukraine.”
The DESS representatives explained that religious organizations associated with the MP are given the opportunity to resign their membership, following a clearly defined procedure.
They stated that the decision on whether a religious organization should become part of the ROC, as well as the issue of termination of its activities, will be made on the basis of research conducted by impartial experts independent of the state.
In particular, the DESS provides research that establishes whether or not a religious organization in Ukraine is part of the Russian Orthodox Church.
If the fact of such affiliation is established, the DESS sends a corresponding order to the religious organization. For example, if representatives of a religious organization are members of the governing bodies of the Russian Orthodox Church - its Synod, Synod of Bishops, Synodal Commission, Inter-Conciliar Presence.
The order will contain a requirement to withdraw from these bodies and provide relevant evidence. In this case, the religious organization will not be subject to this law.
If the religious organization refuses to comply with the order, the DESS will have the right to go to court. “And only the court (as it should be in a democratic society) will decide on the termination of the activities of this religious organization,” the DESS representatives noted.
Therefore, the adopted law pursues a legitimate goal of stopping the subversive activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is aimed at destroying Ukrainian statehood, culture and identity, while establishing the achievement of the said goal by law, not by illegal methods.
As reported previously, on August 20, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill to ban the activities of religious organizations associated with Russia in Ukraine, which could make it impossible for the UOC-MP to operate.
The head of the UOC-MP Information and Education Department, Metropolitan Klyment, stated that after the adoption of the law banning religious organizations associated with the Russian Federation, the UOC-MP plans to continue to live as a true church, and any attempts to ban it could lead to discrediting those who seek it.
According to the SBU press service, since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, the SBU has opened criminal proceedings against more than 100 UOC-MP clergy, nearly 50 of them have been notified of suspicion, and 26 have received court sentences.
