Legal Department comments on court's decision to rename UOC

The Legal Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has commented on the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of renaming the UOC, reports the UOC Information and Education Department.

As stated in the commentary of the Legal Department of the UOC, the subject of the appeal by religious communities of the UOC was the recognition as unlawful and cancellation of the Ministry of Culture's order of January 25, 2019, No. 37 "On the approval of religious expertise on establishing a list of religious organizations (associations) falling under the provisions of the seventh and eighth parts of Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine 'On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations'", as well as the recognition as unlawful of the Ministry of Culture's actions regarding the publication on January 26, 2019, on the official website of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and through the official publication "Uriadovyi Kuryer" of the list of religious organizations (associations) that, according to the ministry, fall under the provisions of the law, and the obligation to withdraw the specified publications.

"That is, certain orders of the central executive body were appealed, which, as stated in the court decision, imposed the obligation to perform certain actions by the employees of such a body, and not the obligations of religious communities," explained the Legal Department of the UOC.

Also, the document from the Synodal Department notes that manipulative statements about the invalidation of the statutes of the religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church based on the mentioned court decisions do not correspond to reality.

"The court decisions do not testify to the cessation of the activities of the religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church or the obligation to re-register them. Therefore, we ask not to take into account unfounded publications in the media or by individual persons," the commentary text says.

The Legal Department emphasizes that none of the orders of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine established or could establish obligations for the religious organizations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to take actions directed at re-registering their statutes, changing their names, etc.

Moreover, the reference to the existence of religious expertise as a basis for taking action to change the name and re-register the statutes is unfounded. According to the Legal Department, religious expertise is not a document that can establish any rights or obligations for religious communities because it has no legal force and carries no legal consequences.

"Therefore, we draw the attention of all interested parties to the fact that neither court decisions nor the laws of Ukraine have established or establish obligations for the religious organizations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to forcibly change the names of religious communities and forcibly register new statutes," the commentary states.

Also, the legal department further writes, "In order to eliminate any abuse by persons responsible for registration actions, we inform that no registrar or other person is authorized at their discretion to make any changes to the names of religious organizations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church or their statutes."

In conclusion, the Legal Department of the UOC believes that "until now, no law or court decision has forcibly terminated the activities of the religious organizations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the statutes of religious organizations are valid, and the Church fully carries out its activities as provided for by the statutes of religious organizations and the laws of Ukraine."

The Legal Department stated that considering the injustice of the decisions and the public significance of reviewing the administrative case, the necessary cassation complaints will be prepared and submitted to overturn the decisions of the first and appellate instances.

As reported, the Court of Appeal declared the legality of renaming the UOC to the ROCinU.