CHURCH THAT SCHISMATICS TRIED TO TAKE OVER BELONGS TO UPTs—ROVNO COURT DECISION
Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 25 November 2015
On 24 November, by its decision the Rovno district court denied the lawsuit of a parish of the Kiev patriarchate for transfer of the church of the Holy Protection in the village of Ryasniki, Goshchansk district, in Rovno province for alternating use, the Information Department of the UPTs reports, with reference to the portal of the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
We recall that the conflict in the village of Ryasniki was provoked by representatives of the local government back in the spring. The chairman of the local village council began to interfere with the routine activity of the UPTs parish. On 20 October, parishioners of the church of the Holy Protection won a court case on the illegal actions of the local village council.
On the initiative of local authorities, the parish of the UPTsKP was registered in the village on 30 July, and as soon as it received the document it began to lay claim to the UPTs church. The schismatics filed a lawsuit in the Rovno court and filed a petition with the Rovno regional state administration. The court took into account the explanation of the chairman of the Rovno provincial administration, Vitaly Chugunnikov, who confirmed the right of ownership of the church by the UPTs parish. The administration presented to the court documents from which it is evident that the church of the Holy Protection of the village of Ryasniki had been turned over for use to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on 3 December 1991, and it had a security contract from 3 October 1988.
"If a church is in legal use by one parish, then it cannot be transferred to another religious parish for alternating use. This fact is determined by existing legislation of Ukraine, the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine. As regards the UPTsKP parish, it was registered only on 30 July 2015, and consequently only from this point does it have rights and obligations," the lawyer of the Rovno diocese of the UPTs, Ekaterina Ivaniuk, explained.
The Information Department of the UPTs reported that it is already typical for methods of slander and insults to be used in order to persuade parishioners of a UPTs parish to transfer into the Kiev patriarchate. And believers did not succumb to the provocation. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 November 2015)
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