Court orders police to enter to URPI data on illegal eviction of UOC cleric

The Lutsk City District Court of the Volyn region decided to enter into the Unified Registry of Pre-Trial Investigations (URPI) the data about the attempt to illegally evict Archpriest Vasily Girnyk, a priest of the UOC, from the church house in the village of Mirnoye, reports the website of the Volyn Eparchy.

Archpriest Vasily and his family reside in this house and are officially registered in accordance with the current legislation of Ukraine.

There are no legal grounds for their eviction since a citizen can be forcibly evicted from his/her home only after a court decision and only in cases specified by law.

In this regard, the priest of the canonical Church reported to the Prosecutor's Office of the Volyn region on the attempts by a group of persons to forcibly evict him and his family, which is a violation of article 162 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Violation of the inviolability of the home). The Prosecutor's Office did not properly respond to the UOC cleric’s complaint.

The Lutsk Court decided to grant the complaint of Archpriest Vasiliy about the inaction of the Prosecutor, enter the data about the commission of a criminal offence into the URPI, interview the applicant and witnesses in detail, and start a pre-trial investigation.

We recall that in the village of Mirnoye, supporters of the recently created religious organization expelled the UOC community not only from their church but also from the emergency house. According to Archpriest Vasily Girnyk, the old church house in which the rectors of the Orthodox community of Mirnoye used to reside in and held services, in fact, is not suitable for its current community to gather there. The rector stressed that he did not know how many believers would stay with him. “I did not expect so many people to stay with me. A meeting for the transfer to the OCU took place in the village on March 8, and on the same day supporters of the new structure came to me and told to give them the keys to the temple. I did what they demanded. Then the transfer of the parishioners seemed to me massive, but when I began to worship in the old house of the priest, I thought 2-3 people would come. Instead, 40-50 people come,” said the priest.

Later, the court opened a criminal case on the seizure of the St. Nicholas Church of the UOC in the village of Mirnoye. The pre-trial investigation is conducted by the Gorohov Police Department of the Directorate-General of the National Police in the Volyn region.