ECHR opens proceedings on application of UOC parish in Volyn

The European Court of Human Rights has opened court proceedings at the request of the rector of one of the parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Volyn region. The reason for the lawsuit was the decision of the Horodyshche territorial community to ban the activities of the UOC on its territory. The Ukrainian courts ruled in favor of the Horodyshche territorial community, with which the UOC priest who heads the local parish disagreed. This is reported by the official website of the Volyn Diocese of the UOC.

“On September 26, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights opened proceedings in case No. 17330/24 and scheduled the case of the illegal ban of the UOC on the territory of the Horodyshche community in Volyn for a written hearing, about which it sent a corresponding notification. As reported, a cleric of the Volyn Eparchy, Archpriest Valery Pylypchuk, is trying to prove in court the illegality of the decision of the Horodyshche village council to ban the activities of churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the territory of this territorial community. By its decision of June 23, 2022, the Gorodyshche village council grossly restricted the right of the community residents to “freedom of religion, to freely perform religious rites or conduct other religious activities,” — the website of the Volyn Eparchy of the UOC reports.

Earlier, a representative of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, lawyer and archpriest of the UOC Nikita Chekman, said that on 22.07.2024, a report was sent to the Office of the Prosecutor General about the commission of a criminal offense by MP and former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. The UOC claims that Poroshenko has repeatedly and publicly incited religious hatred and enmity against the clergy and laity of the Church.