Police ignore a number of court orders to investigate offences at Lavra

Employees of the Pechersk District Police Department do not execute a number of court decisions to open criminal cases against anti-church "activists" who are trying to disrupt the worship services of the UOC near the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and insult believers, said the Lavra’s lawyer, Archpriest Nikita Chekman.

According to him, the lawyers of the monastery have already filed more than 20 applications to the police about the commission of offences by "activists" under Articles 180 (obstruction of religious rites) and 161 (incitement of religious hatred and insulting the feelings of believers) of the Criminal Code, but the police do not open criminal cases. Therefore, the lawyers have to appeal to the court with complaints about the inaction of law enforcers.

"Judges recognise the unlawful inactivity of the police and oblige them to enter information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (ERDR), but we have already more than five decisions of investigating judges, which are not executed by the employees of the Pechersk Police Department," says Fr. Nikita.

He noted that, according to the procedure, information about criminal offences is entered into the ERDR only by investigators or inquiry officers. "Other police officers do not have the right to do this. But court decisions are for some reason signed by local inspectors, and they have to transfer these materials to the investigation, and then these materials somehow get lost in the police department. This is such manipulation to actually not execute the court decision, which is binding," explained the lawyer.

He said that in this regard, the Lavra's lawyers are now preparing applications to the State Bureau of Investigation.

In addition, Fr. Nikita said that in cases when criminal proceedings are still registered, investigators under various pretexts do not provide the materials of these cases for familiarization to lawyers.

"This is all recorded, we file appropriate complaints," the lawyer said.

In addition, he said, the monastery's defenders will appeal to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, "as the police do not actually protect the rights of victims – UOC believers – violated by the so-called activists."

According to the lawyer, "the police fulfils a system order and actually facilitates illegal actions against the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church".

"What rule of law can we talk about, when we actually record illegal actions daily – they are recorded on video media, properly documented – and the police deliberately avoid performing their direct duties?” Father Nikita stresses. “Probably, the police are fulfilling the instruction not to give the opportunity to fairly and legally prosecute these 'activists'."

The lawyer also notes "that we see a completely different approach to our clergy: as soon as a clergyman of the UOC expresses any thoughts about the actions of the representatives of the OCU, he immediately receives suspicions, indictments, and prosecution begins".