Court partially grants UOC’s claim against Ministry of Culture

Director of the Department for Religious Affairs Andrei Yurash (second from right) is listening to the court decision on the UOC’s claim

As a UOJ correspondent reports, the court partially granted the claim of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. 

The judges acknowledged that the Ministry of Culture violated the Law of Ukraine when re-registering the statutes of the UOC. In the lawsuit, representatives of the Church pointed to the blocking of registration. At the same time, the requirement to accept the statutes was not granted – they were redirected to the Department for Religious Affairs for a new consideration.

Director of the Department Andrei Yurash, commenting on the court's decision, said that the Ministry of Culture will appeal against the court decision.

The head of the Law Department of the UOC, Protopriest Alexander Bakhov, stated that "the Church is ready for dialogue, provided that the officials do not resort to political speculation, accusing the UOC of its work on the aggressor country in the absence of proof." At the same time, Father Alexander stressed that since 2014 the Ministry of Culture has not registered 11 statutes of the canonical Church yet.

The full text of the court decision will be available to both parties in five days.

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