Draft law 4511 presses for “hand” control of the Church, – UOC representative (VIDEO)

Draft law 4511 is specifically targeted against the UOC, but poses a number of threats to other denominations as well. This is a standpoint of Archpriest Alexander Bahov, head of the UOC Law Department, which was aired in the program ”The Right to Voice” on the topic “What threat does the interference of the Verkhovna Rada into the Church affairs carry?”

“Despite the fact the draft law does not specify a religious organization it is aimed at, its initiators have repeatedly declared in mass media what goal it pursues and against who it's going to be targeted,” said the chief of the UOC Law Department.

Herewith Alexander Bahov emphasized that the center of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is based in Kiev. A legal founder of the UOC is a Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. All decisions relating to the UOC organization are adopted here, in Kiev, by the Holy Synod under the direction of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.

“A question arises: in what manner will they define a Russia-centered religious community?, remarked the Archpriest. – If they do it like that, then not only the UOC but also the ROCOR, Old Believers, as well as a number of other religious organizations are going to fall within such scheme. The draft law does not describe this mechanism. I assume the Expert Council at the Ministry of Culture will determine at their own discretion the location of centers of religious organizations and what religious organization this law can be applied to. It means they lay down a manual operation mechanism to be used likely with respect to other structures. Is your center based there? Well, we forbid you. You have no right to carry out your activity in Ukraine.”

Draft law 4511 foresees the introduction of a “special status” for religious organizations, which administrative centers are based in the countries, recognized by the VR of Ukraine as “aggressor states”.