Ordinary murder: Analyzing the new Draft Law on banning UOC

On March 5, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on Humanitarian and Information Policy recommended draft law No. 8371 on the ban of the UOC for adoption in the second reading. The word "recommended" sounds excessively modest here, as the committee members, among whom are the most fervent "friends" of the UOC such as Kniazhytsky, Viatrovich, Poturaev, Pavlenko, Pipa, and others, in fact, wrote a new draft law that has very little in common with the original authored by D. Shmyhal. Let's consider the main provisions of the text, which came into the possession of the UOJ.

Changes begin with the title itself. The previous title, "On Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Activities of Religious Organizations in Ukraine", has been replaced with "On the Protection of National and Public Security, Rights and Freedoms of Individuals in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations".

The new version of the draft law proposes amendments to a number of Laws of Ukraine:

• "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations";
• "On State Registration of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs, and Public Formations";
• "On Lease of State and Municipal Property";
• "On the Prosecutor's Office";
• "On Prevention and Counteraction to Legalization (Money Laundering) of Proceeds from Crime, Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction";
• "On Military Chaplaincy Service";
• Code of Administrative Court Procedure of Ukraine.

Article 3 of the "modified" draft law states that the activity of the Russian Orthodox Church is prohibited in Ukraine, as well as religious organizations "in any way affiliated" with it. And immediately the question arises – what are these organizations and how will this "affiliation" be determined?

Affiliation based on documents of the aggressor country

The determination of the connection with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is outlined in the supplement proposed to be added to the law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations". It is suggested to supplement Article 51, where "affiliation" is defined as follows:

• The Ukrainian confession "directly, indirectly, or as a part of another religious organization (association) is part of the structure or associated with the structure" of a prohibited foreign confession.
• "In official documents, and/or decisions of governing bodies, and/or in the statute (regulations), and/or documents mentioned in the statute" of the Ukrainian confession, there are indications of integration into the structure of a prohibited foreign confession.
• "In official documents, and/or decisions of governing bodies, and/or in the statute" of a prohibited foreign confession, there are indications of integration into its structure by the Ukrainian confession.
• "Official documents, and/or decisions of governing bodies, and/or the statute" of a prohibited foreign confession provide for the mandatory inclusion of leaders and/or authorized representatives of the Ukrainian confession in the statutory governing bodies of the mentioned foreign confession.
• The prohibited foreign confession blesses the leaders of the Ukrainian confession.
• The prohibited foreign confession blesses the Statute of the Ukrainian confession. Accordingly, amendments are proposed to Article 8 of the Law, according to which the activity of confessions that do not meet the requirements listed in Article 51 is not allowed in Ukraine.

Given that everyone understands that draft law 8371 is aimed at the liquidation of the UOC, it exclusively concerns its relations with the ROC. Since the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of 2022 removed all mentions of the ROC from its Statute (except for the Certificate of Granting Autonomy), it is impossible to link it with the Russian Church according to Ukrainian laws. Therefore, MPs made a shocking move – they established the "affiliation" of the UOC with the ROC based on the Statute of the Russian Church, which is a structure of an aggressor country. Indeed, its Statute indicates that the UOC is still part of the Moscow Patriarchate, its bishops are part of the Episcopal and Local Councils, and its Primate is blessed by the Patriarch of the ROC.

Referring to Russian documents is not a novelty for MPs. Such a method was used by experts in State Ethno-Policy in their "religious expertise" on the relations between the UOC and the ROC more than a year ago.

If draft law 8371 is adopted, it will be the most absurd precedent when a provision will be introduced into Ukrainian legislation based on documents of a country at war with Ukraine. It can only be described as a "shame".

Even in official publications of the Ukrainian authorities, Russia is almost always written with a lowercase letter, negotiations with it are prohibited, but concurrently, Ukraine refers to regulatory acts of Russian structures. What will happen next? Will Ukrainian parliamentarians refer to Putin's decisions on the "acceptance" of the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions into the Russian Federation? Recognition of the annexation of Crimea?

Prohibition on the propaganda of the 'Russian World'

According to paragraph 2 of Article 5, it is stated that "a religious organization, in respect of which facts of dissemination of propaganda of the Russian world ideology are revealed, in whole or in part, shall be subject to termination."

At the same time, it is not at all necessary for such propaganda to be carried out in the UOC. Watch our hands. As we have found out above, MPs classify the UOC as the ROC based on documents from the ROC itself. While the ROC propagates the Russian world, then the deputies believe that the UOC also propagates it:

"When applying this norm, the facts of dissemination of propaganda of the ideology of the Russian world are taken into account both directly by the religious organization (association) itself and by its statutory or other governing bodies, other persons acting on their behalf, on assignment or with the permission or in accordance with another method of coordination, regardless of the form of such coordination."

Pay attention to the wording regarding propaganda "by statutory or other governing bodies". There is no doubt that here the MPs have in mind the Moscow Patriarchate.

Hence, to "prove" the propaganda of the Russian world by the structures of the UOC, it is quite sufficient that it is propagated in the ROC.

But how will the facts of "propaganda" themselves be proved? The following is said about this: "When considering, conclusions of religious studies expertise, information from other central executive bodies, data from public electronic registries, as well as information obtained from individuals and legal entities, from the media and other open sources, may be used."

Everyone has already seen the manner of DESS conducting its expertise. One can only guess what information can be obtained "from the media and other open sources".

Ceasing the activity of all those deemed associated with the UOC

In the "modified" bill, it is prohibited "any activity of legal entities, the owner, participant, or shareholder of which is" the UOC.

All transactions related to the use of property (rent, lease, leasing, etc.), the term of which has not expired, concluded between residents of Ukraine and legal entities deemed associated with the UOC (the owner, participant, shareholder of which it is), are terminated prematurely.

What does this mean in plain language?

First and foremost, we are thinking about the religious communities of the UOC. But besides them, there is also a huge number of various legal entities that are in one way or another associated with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in their documents. These are enterprises producing candles, bookstores, sewing workshops for church vestments, carpentry and other enterprises producing analogs, icon panels, domes of temples, and so on. All of them exist legally, pay taxes, and provide people with jobs. Thanks to the new law, all of them will be prohibited, and a mass of people will find themselves on the street.

Facilitating "transitions"

Over the past two years, we have seen mass falsifications throughout Ukraine when, under the guise of meetings of UOC religious communities, local residents or people brought in from other regions simply gather. They are the ones who vote instead of parishioners. Moreover, sometimes even such gatherings are not held, and documents are simply falsified (as was the case with the forceful seizure of the Nativity of the Virgin Convent in Cherkasy).

But even the existing norm for "transitions", which no one follows anyway, the deputies decided to simplify even more. Currently, the "Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations" states that the meeting of a religious community should take place in accordance with its charter. And in the standard charter of a UOC community, it is indicated that only those who regularly attend services and participate in sacraments can be its members. Accordingly, only such people can organize a parish meeting.

In bill 8371, the reference to the community charter was removed. Now this provision in Article 8 sounds as follows: "The decision to change subordination and make the corresponding changes or additions to the charter is made by no less than two-thirds of the present members of the general meeting of the religious community."

However, in the subsequent articles of the law, mentions of changing jurisdiction were added not only for communities but also for monasteries and even religious centers and administrations. "Administrations", obviously, mean dioceses.

For example, Article 9 says that religious centers can be subordinate to any centers in Ukraine and abroad, except Russian ones. And it is proposed to supplement this article with the following formulation: "The state recognizes the right of religious organizations to freely change this subordination by making the corresponding changes to the charter (provision) of the religious administration. The decision to change subordination and make the corresponding changes or additions to the charter is made by the general meeting of the religious center (administration)."

How will this be implemented in practice, given our realities? Everything is very simple. On behalf of a particular diocese, some people will hold a meeting at which they will vote for its inclusion in the OCU. After which, the locks will be changed in the diocesan administration, and the bishops will be kicked out onto the street. Needless to say, that such a "transition" will catastrophically affect the life of all diocesan communities, it is even redundant to say.

Similar "transitions" are being prepared for monasteries as well, which will no longer be able to indicate their affiliation with the UOC. Article 10 will be supplemented with a formulation according to which "the decision to change subordination and make the corresponding changes or additions to the charter is made by the general meeting of the respective monastery, religious brotherhood, missionary society." Do I need to say that here too, "meetings" will be held according to the scheme described above?

Procedure for the dissolution of communities

The religious communities, according to bill 8371, should be liquidated by amending the same "Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations", Article 16. In addition to those already existing in the law, new points have appeared.

1. The liquidation of a religious organization if its authorized person is convicted "for committing, on behalf of the religious organization, a crime against the foundations of national security of Ukraine, or for committing a criminal offense provided for in articles 111, 161, 190, 209, 258 - 258-6, 436 - 438, 442, 4".
2. Refusal to amend the charters of religious centers, monasteries, or missions.
3. Propaganda of the Russian world.
4. Connection with the administrative center in the aggressor country.

As we understand it, according to the above provisions, MPs can attribute any community, monastery, or diocesan administration of the UOC to one of these items.

How will the ban be implemented? Parliamentarians have entrusted this work to the State Ethnic Policy Committee, which "immediately files a lawsuit to terminate the religious organization".

"The court decision to terminate the religious organization appoints a commission for termination (liquidation commission) of the religious organization," the text says.

Deputies write that the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church are prohibited from the moment the new law enters into force. But questions of "affiliation" with the ROC by UOC structures will be dealt with by the State Ethnic Policy Committee on its own initiative or "based on appeals from state authorities, local self-government bodies, associations of citizens, other persons."

Moreover, in the "evidence" of the connection between the UOC and the ROC, the State Ethnic Policy Committee may not bother too much:

"The presence of a circumstance referred to by any interested person as the basis for his arguments or objections is considered proven if the evidence provided to confirm such a circumstance is more likely than the evidence provided to refute it."

Translated into plain language: "Do you think there's more likely a connection than none? Then the connection is proven."

At the same time, no one will debate with the UOC dioceses. "Evidence" of connection with the ROC "may be communicated to the religious organization simultaneously with the prescription" to eliminate such a connection.

Most likely, all of this will happen at the level of governing centers (dioceses) of the UOC, rather than communities.

The State Ethnic Policy Service (DESS) "compiles a list of religious organizations (associations) that are part of or associated with the structure of a religious organization (association) against which a prescription has been issued, and publishes this list on its website." Within 30 days (in some cases - 60), UOC structures will have to either remove mention of their connection with the ROC or prove that it does not exist. If this is not done, it is "recognized as affiliated" with the ROC.

Then, the DESS:

• sends "a prescription to eliminate the violation" to such UOC structures;
• sends a prescription to the State Property Fund, local self-government bodies, or other persons providing property to UOC structures, for "premature termination of property use rights, which is the property of the state, territorial community, other persons, including premature termination of lease agreements for the corresponding property concluded with a religious organization (association), cancellation (premature termination of the action) of decisions on granting the corresponding property for use, etc.";
• files a lawsuit for the liquidation of the UOC structure.

The bill proposes to amend the Code of Administrative Court Procedure of Ukraine, in particular – to introduce a new section "on the termination of a religious organization".

It states that legal actions must be initiated by the DESS.

An announcement of the opening of a case against the UOC structure must be published on the website of either the DESS or the "body authorized to register the charter of a specific religious organization". Within three days of publication, it is considered that the parties are informed about the hearing, and if absent, the case will be considered without UOC representatives. The Supreme Court serves as the appellate body here, and after its decision, the case for the liquidation of the UOC structure is considered closed.

UOC structures must bring their charters into compliance with the new law within 3 months. Also, the Code of Administrative Court Procedure of Ukraine includes a provision that after 60 days from the date of entry into force of the bill, "lease agreements for state or communal property concluded with religious organizations, legal entities, whose activities contradict this Law, are terminated prematurely."

Conclusions

The "modified" version of bill 8371 is nothing but plain murder, an unlawful reprisal of the state with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. "Affiliation" with the ROC based on ROC documents can be "pinned" to absolutely any UOC structure – whether it's a rural community or a diocesan administration. If there's not enough "affiliation", they can finish off with "propaganda of the Russian world".

The clauses about "transitions" of diocesan centers and monasteries are new scams, new fierce seizures, violence, and possibly blood. And the scale of destruction of thousands of parishes can only be compared to the Soviet era, nothing else even comes close to mind.

We are facing a powerful split in Ukrainian society. Conflicts will arise at both the state and individual territorial community levels. Why the authorities need this, when they so pompously talk about consolidation and the necessity of uniting Ukrainians in the conditions of an atrocious war, is incomprehensible. There is only one explanation – the execution of someone else's evil will.

What are you doing, Putin?! Stop!