We shall remind you that earlier we reported that the Ternopil City Council transferred to the religious community of the OCU the land plot (at the address Ternopil, Konovalets Street, 1), where the Cathedral and the diocesan office of the Ternopil diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are located. This decision was made by the city council despite the fact that the Supreme Court of Ukraine had seized the land, prohibiting the city council from disposing of the property in any way. Now the OCU community, which was given the land under the UOC Cathedral, is going to build a chapel there.
The court sided with the OCU in a land dispute with the UOC in Kirovohrad region
The economic court of Kirovohrad region ruled in favor of the OCU religious community from the village of Priyutovka, obliging the administration of the Alexandria diocese of the UOC to remove obstacles in the use of a land plot. It is about the territory of more than a third of a hectare, on which the OCU community plans to build a new church. About it informs “Grechka”.
According to the materials of the case, in 2019 Priyutovsky village Council transferred the specified plot for permanent use to the parish of the UOC. However, on May 27, 2023, the territorial community held a meeting, at which it was decided “to change subordination and transfer to the OCU”. In August of the same year, the regional administration registered a new charter of the community, after which the settlement council reissued the right to use the land to the OCU community, which was recorded in the State Register of Real Rights.
In the fall of 2023, the conflict escalated. Members of the audit commission of the OCU community twice tried to conduct an inventory of the property on the plot, but their actions were thwarted by the UOC believers. According to the plaintiff, “they broke the fence, blocked the doors of the temple and refused to dialog.” As a result, the contractor hired to perform design work for the construction of the new temple was unable to begin his duties. These events were recorded in the acts of the commission and on the video published online.
During the trial, representatives of the administration of the Alexandria diocese of the UOC insisted that the meeting of the territorial community and the so-called transition to the OCU were illegal, and that what was happening was a raider seizure of the temple and property. The diocese also appealed to the police. The court rejected these arguments, referring to another court ruling issued last year, which denied the UOC side’s demand to cancel the decision of the meeting and the new charter of the OCU community. In May of this year, the court of appeal confirmed the legality of these decisions.
Based on the established facts, the court concluded that the OCU side was the legal user of the plot, and the UOC representatives were creating obstacles. At the same time, the court partially denied the claim, not satisfying the demand to evict the UOC representatives from the buildings on the plot, as the parties did not provide evidence of state registration of these buildings. In addition, the court ordered the UOC diocesan administration to reimburse the OCU community for the court fee in the amount of more than 3.6 thousand hryvnias.
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