Lavra lawyers to daily document offenses of “activists”

Anti-church “activists” at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. Photo: screenshot of video from the Telegram channel “Pershy Kozatsky”

Lawyers of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra will attend prayer services at the walls of the monastery every day and respond to offenses committed against believers by opponents of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This was announced in a video message by the monastery’s lawyer, Archpriest Nikita Chekman.

"We are strengthening legal protection," he said. "Every day during the prayer vigils [near the Lavra], there will be a lawyer present who will record all violations committed by people who, on the one hand, may not realize what they are doing, but on the other hand, are acting deliberately, [...] mocking believers, openly ridiculing faith, and offending the feelings of all believers. Therefore, we ensure the complete documentation of these unlawful actions."

According to Father Nikita, the lawyers will inform law enforcement agencies about the documented violations, and if law enforcement fails to react, they will challenge their inaction.

"We see how law enforcement agencies ignore numerous statements from clergy and believers of the UOC. We are ready to fight for our rights," the lawyer emphasized.

He called on all UOC believers to "join in prayer and in the defense of their constitutional rights."

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the lawyer of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Dmitry Tsvetov, went to court with complaints about the inactivity of the Pechersk Police Department in Kyiv, which ignored statements about the disruption of a prayer service at the Lavra and an attack on one of the parishioners using a gas spray.

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