Legal department of the UOC: There are no grounds for changing the name and re-registration of the communities of the UOC today

Today there are no grounds for changing the name and re-registration of the communities of the UOC. This is stated in the commentary of the legal department of the UOC regarding the unlawful decision of the Kiev District Administrative Court in the case of appealing the religious expertise of the Charter on the management of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for the presence of a church-canonical connection with the Moscow Patriarchate, reports the Information and Education Department of the UOC.

The commentary of the Legal Department notes that although on May 15, 2023, the Kyiv District Administrative Court annulled the court ruling of April 22, 2019 on the ban on any registration actions regarding the information contained in the USR in relation to religious organizations of the UOC, as of today, the decision has not entered into legal force.

Lawyers noted that the court made a decision with a significant violation of substantive and procedural law.

In particular, describing the circumstances, the court confused the plaintiffs and the defendant; described actions that the plaintiffs did not commit. Also, justifying the legality of the examination conducted by the defendant, the court refers to the facts allegedly established by the examination, however, the court did not establish either the absence of a methodology for conducting such an examination, or confirmation of the facts cited in its conclusions.

In addition, the court did not pay attention to the fact that “the examination is religious studies, but is not of a legal nature.”

Considering this, as well as a number of other violations by the court, the Legal Department of the UOC reports that “now the court decision has not entered into force, and, consequently, all prohibitions on carrying out any registration actions regarding the information contained in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities , individual entrepreneurs and public formations, the UOC continues to act in relation to religious organizations.

“Given the unlawfulness of the court decision, a corresponding appeal will be filed within the time limits stipulated by law. In addition, we note that, despite this court decision, today there are no grounds for changing the name of religious organizations belonging to the UOC,” says in a comment from the Legal Department.