Justice Ministry: Request to CC doesn’t override the law on Church renaming

Head of Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice P. Petrenko

The submission of a deputy request to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on the constitutionality of Law No. 2662-VIII does not override this law, said the Minister of Justice of Ukraine Pavel Petrenko in his comments to the "Interfax-Ukraine" agency.

Forty-nine Ukrainian parliamentarians, most of them from the Opposition Bloc faction, submitted a motion to the Ukrainian Constitutional Court on Friday to ask it to analyze the constitutionality of the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” of December 20, 2018, No. 2662-VIII (bill No. 5309 - Ed.) obliging religious organizations to indicate in the name the governing centre outside Ukraine.

“Challenging a law before the Constitutional Court by certain subjects does not stop its action. Therefore, the law is valid and subject to implementation. The submission of a motion from deputies is not an obstacle or a reason for non-compliance with the law,” said the head of the Ministry of Justice.

Responding to a question about the consequences of not changing the name, the minister said: “The law is in force, it provides for time limits for bringing the name into line with the law ... Therefore, let’s wait until the term is over.”

We recall that on December 22, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed anti-church bill No. 5309 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations’ regarding the name of religious organizations that are part of a religious organization whose governing centre is located outside Ukraine ...". According to expert Pavel Rudiakov, the law on renaming is intended to cover up intentions to take away Ukrainian Lavras from the UOC.

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