Novinsky: UOC will file an appeal to ECHR on Lavra and will surely win it

Former MP, Archdeacon of the UOC Vadym Novinsky. Photo: Facebook page of Vadym Novinsky

The UOC will send an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights if the decision to evict the UOC brethren from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra fails in the Ukrainian courts. Ex-Parliamentarian, Archdeacon of the UOC Vadym Novinsky wrote about this on Facebook.

Novinsky is sure that the Church will win the case in the ECHR, and the Ukrainian authorities will be forced to cancel their illegal decision and pay compensation to the UOC.

“Of course, the Church will apply to the courts; try to protest the actions of the authorities by appealing to the current legislation. <...> But frankly, in a country where even the president can ignore the decisions of the Constitutional Court, hoping to win litigation is a thankless task,” he said.

The ex-people's deputy noted that the decisions on the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra were made in violation of the current legislation, with absolutely fake and far-fetched arguments. According to him, the actions of the authorities in relation to the Church are a sign of the revival of the Bolshevism traditions in the state and the establishment of dictatorship in Ukraine.

“This is already the second stage of the plan to expel the UOC from the Lavra: the first took place a few months ago, when a number of churches were taken away from the Church in the upper part of the Lavra complex. Unfortunately, this is accompanied by a campaign of defamation of hierarchs, the imposition of sanctions against clerics on the basis of far-fetched, unsubstantiated accusations, seizures of churches, attempts to blackmail, pressure and bribe against priests in order to lure them into a new ‘church’ initiated by the authorities (OCU – Ed.),” wrote Novinsky.

At the same time, he stressed that over the past 35 years, the UOC has carried out serious restoration and repair work in the lower part of the Lavra, and some buildings have been restored from ruins. At the same time, Novinsky called the forcible deprivation of the monks' housing "outright raiding with the participation of senior officials."

“Over the past years, the faithful of the UOC have repeatedly proved that they are ready to selflessly defend their Church. Religious processions in 2016-2018 gathered a huge number of believers. <...> Or does the government think that by banning the Church and taking away sacred things, it motivates millions of UOC faithful to be patriots of Ukraine? Does the state have the right to systematically violate the basic rights of citizens, including the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion?" he added.

As reported by the UOJ, the UOC is being expelled from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

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