International Human Rights Defenders Accuse Cherkasy Mayor of Illegal Seizure of UOC Church

The international human rights organization Public Advocacy commented on the situation in Cherkasy, where local authorities, together with the police and OCU activists, participated in the forcible seizure of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) building. The comment was published on the organization’s Telegram channel.

«From a legal perspective, the actions of the Cherkasy mayor should be assessed under criminal law,» the official statement reads. It emphasizes that the UOC community has «legal rights to the land plot on which the seized church is built» and is also the «owner of the building.»

Human rights defenders point out that «not being the owner of the church building, neither the mayor nor anyone else had the right to seize the building by force, especially with the involvement of the police.» Public Advocacy also added: «According to Ukrainian legislation, even having rights to real estate, it is impossible to evict anyone from it without a prior court hearing on eviction and without a court decision that must be enforced by the enforcement service — and it is the enforcement service, not the mayor, that has the right to involve the police if necessary.»

Commenting on the mayor’s public statements during a conversation with Metropolitan Theodosy, the human rights organization emphasized: «The numerous discriminatory statements and hate rhetoric from the mayor should receive legal evaluation.» In this regard, Public Advocacy urged UOC believers to «submit another package of applications to the police under all the listed articles of the Criminal Code,» and to prepare «international complaints and information campaigns» aimed at documenting violations of the religious community’s rights and the authorities’ inaction.

It is reminded that in Cherkasy, local authorities temporarily closed the St. Andrew’s Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was recently raiderly seized by representatives of the OCU with the assistance of officials. This was reported by OCU hierarch Ioann Yaremenko in a comment to local media. According to him, the Cherkasy City Council canceled the decision to grant the land plot to the UOC and «asked the community to leave» the church.