Court finds UOC community of Ivachkiv as wronged party in conflict with OCU

The Zdolbuniv District Court has ruled that the UOC community of the UOC Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the village of Ivachkiv (Rivne Eparchy) is an aggrieved party in the confrontation with the OCU, reports the eparchy’s press service on 29 August 2022.

The Zdolbuniv District Court considered criminal proceedings initiated by law enforcement agencies because of a long interfaith conflict instigated by supporters of the OCU. The reason for the conflict was the church of the Nativity of the Theotokos, which belongs to the UOC community in the village of Ivachkiv in the Zdolbuniv parish and which is claimed by Dumenko’s followers. The court found the religious community of the UOC of the Nativity of the Theotokos parish to be an aggrieved party.

"The mentioned court ruling confirms the unlawfulness of the actions of OCU representatives, who by raiding and by a raiding scheme common throughout Ukraine are trying to appropriate the legal status of the UOC religious community and thus take over the church," said the lawyer of the Rivne Eparchy of the UOC and human rights activist Raisa Dmytrenko. She also said that the court did not overlook the facts of constant slander, humiliation and insults on the part of the UOC activists towards the priest and the UOC believers.

Criminal proceedings were launched against the supporters of the OCU on the facts of inciting interfaith hatred and forgery of documents on behalf of the current religious community with a view to changing the confessional affiliation of the UOC into the OCU.

Earlier, in Ivachkiv, OCU activists at an illegal meeting "transferred" the UOC community to the OCU while the faithful were praying at the liturgy, after which lawyers of the UOC eparchy in Rivne filed a lawsuit against Dumenko's supporters.

As reported, after the attempt to seize the church in Hilcha, a criminal case was launched against the OCU members.