KIEV COURT SUSPENDS RENAMING OF U.P.Ts.
Interfax-Religiia,
22 April 2019
A district administrative court of Kiev granted the
application of the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UPTs) to secure the lawsuit in the
case regarding
the cancellation of the order of the Ukrainian Ministry of
Culture according to
which the Kiev metropolia of the UPTs must insert changes into
its name, the
press service of the court reported on Monday.
"The court granted the application of the Kiev
metropolia of the
UPTs for securing the lawsuit, in light of the fact that failure
to take such
measures may substantially complicate or make impossible the
restoration of
rights or interests of the plaintiff that have been violated or
challenged. In
addition, in the court's opinion, implementation at the present
time (before
the resolution of the case on the merits) of the act being
challenged and its
execution may lead to unjustified interference of the state in
the sphere of
the activity of a religious organization as a legal entity," the
report on
the court's official website says.
At the same time, the court notes that the adoption of
measures of
securing the lawsuit does not predetermine the actual resolution
of the
dispute, inasmuch as it is aimed "exclusively at the preserving
of the
existing situation before the completion of the investigation of
the case on
the merits."
At the district administrative court of the capital it
was noted that
the court has included 265 religious organizations as
participants in the case
as third persons.
As reported, on 29 March the district administrative
court of Kiev
opened proceedings in the case of the lawsuit of the Kiev
metropolia of the
UPTs against the Ministry of Culture for cancellation of the
order for
approving a religious studies expert analysis to establish a
list of religious
organizations that fall under the action of the standards of the
law "On
freedom of conscience and religious organizations."
On 20 December 2018, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law
requiring the
UPTs to indicate in its name its affiliation with the Russian
Orthodox Church.
On 22 December 2018, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed
the
corresponding law.
The document provides that a religious organization that is a member of the structure of a religious organization with its center in a state that has committed armed aggression against Ukraine and temporarily occupied its territory must reflect in its name its affiliation with such a center outside the borders of the country. It will be required to show in its charter the full name of that organization of which it is a part and whose center is located outside the borders of Ukraine, with the permissible addition of the words "in Ukraine."
According to the law, if a church with its center in the Russian Federation does not submit for registration changes in its charter regarding renaming, within four months, then its charter will lose its force in that part. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 April 2019)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.