METROPOLITAN
ALEXANDER
CALLS AUTHORITIES TO BAN R.P.Ts. IN UKRAINE IN RESPONSE TO
DEMOLITION
OF P.Ts.U. CHURCH IN CRIMEA
Metropolitan
of
Pereiaslav and Vishnevoe Alexander of the P.Ts.U. [Orthodox
Church of Ukraine]
urged the government to prohibit the activity of the R.P.Ts
[Russian Orthodox
Church] in Ukraine. The metropolitan wrote about this on his
Facebook page.
It was
this way that
the PTsU metropolitan reacted to the decision of a Crimean
court, which
required the archbishop of the Crimean diocese of the PTsU,
Kliment, to
demolish the church in Evpatoria within 5 days.
Metropolitan
Alexander
emphasized that the "leadership of the state must immediately
give
a suitable response to this 'spiritual terrorism.'" In the event
that the
stated threats are carried out, then it must prohibit the
activity of the RPTs
in Ukraine, as "enablers of international terrorism." "An
immense number of liturgical facilities of the UPTs [Ukrainian
Orthodox
Church], which are in jurisdictional affiliation with the Moscow
patriarchate,
have been built in violation of pertinent legislation. There has
been
widespread violation of the rules of the use of rented premises
and an infinite
number of violations while beginning their use as well as of the
rules of fire
safety," the metropolitan noted.
As RISU
has reported,
on 23 July Russian court bailiffs delivered to the archbishop of
the Crimean
diocese of the PTsU, Kliment, an order regarding demolition of
the church in
Evpatoria, which is in the annexed Crimea. (tr. by PDS, posted
27 July 2020)
CRIMEA
OCCUPIERS
REQUIRE CRIMEAN ARCHBISHOP TO DESTROY P.Ts.U. CHURCH IN
EVPATORIA
Archbishop
of
Simferopol and Crimea Kliment received an order from the
"Court Bailiffs
Service of Crimea" regarding demolition of a church of the
Orthodox Church
of Ukraine (PTsU) in Evpatoria. The building must be
demolished within five
days. This was reported by the Office of the Ombudsman of
Ukraine.
In the
event that the
requirements are not fulfilled, the occupation authorities of
Crimea may open
against the archbishop a criminal proceeding on the basis of
article 315 of the
Criminal Code of Russia, non-fulfillment of a sentence of a
court, decision of
a court, or other judicial act.
The
so-called
"court" in Crimea made the decision regarding demolition of
the
facility because of the respondent's alleged lack of proof of
the legality of
the use of the land parcel and building of the parish of the
PTsU in Evpatoria.
The
ombudsman
condemns the actions of the occupying authorities and notes
that the decision
of the so-called "court" in Crimea and the persecution of
representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine because of
religious
convictions are violations of article 9 of the European
Convention on Human
Rights, which guarantees to each person the right to freedom
of thought,
conscience, and religion.
We
recall that on 14
November 2019, the Arbitration Court of the Central District
of Kaluga (Russian
Federation) turned down the cassation appeal of
representatives of the Crimean
diocese of the PTsU. The issue was an appeal of a decision of
the so-called
"Ministry of Property and Land Relations" in Crimea regarding
"termination of the lease agreement" for the premises of the
cathedral church of Saints Vladimir and Olga in the city of
Simferopol.
In
connection with
this, it is expected that a single church of the Orthodox
Church of Ukraine in
Simferopol, the center of the Crimean diocese of the PTsU,
will be destroyed,
access to which was already previously impossible because of
the actions of the
occupying authorities.
The
United Nations
Committee on Human Rights received an appeal from Orthodox
Ukrainian believers
of Simferopol and twice required Russia not to evict the
Crimean diocese from
the cathedral church. However the authorities of the RF
ignored these
obligations.
Archbishop
Kliment
reported that after the court's decision regarding transfer of
the use of the
property to the Russian "Ministry of Property Relations of
Crimea,"
the property of the PTsU cathedral in Simferopol was plundered
and destroyed.
On 10
December,
Kliment went to Kiev and declared a hunger strike. He picketed
the building of
the cabinet of ministers with a poster saying "Ensure the
rights of
religious liberty of Ukrainians in Crimea." (tr. by PDS,
posted 27 July
2020)
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