UOC Legal Department: No legal grounds for renaming the Church

Archpriest Oleksandr Bakhov. Photo: news.church.ua

The head of the UOC Legal Department, Archpriest Oleksandr Bakhov, commented on the decision of the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the changes to Article 12 of the law on freedom of conscience and religious organizations complied with the constitution, reports the official website of the UOC Synodal Department.

"The Constitutional Court of Ukraine recognised the law on renaming as constitutional. At the same time, it should be noted that the decision of the Constitutional Court does not oblige the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to change its name, it only concerns the compliance of the law on renaming with the Constitution of Ukraine," said Archpriest Oleksandr Bakhov.

The head of the Legal Department pointed out that "there is no mention of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the law itself”.

Archpriest Oleksandr reminded that the statutory documents show that the UOC is registered in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation, its founder is the Council of the UOC, its religious centre as well as all the administrative bodies are in the city of Kyiv.

"All attempts to forcibly apply this law to the UOC will increase cases of violations of the right to freedom of conscience and religion in Ukraine," the lawyer stressed.

It should be recalled that according to new amendments to Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations", churches whose governing centres are located in the RF must specify this in their names.

As reported, the Constitutional Court recognized the UOC renaming as legal.

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