The court refused to grant interim measures to the UOC in the case on termination of its activity

The Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal has dismissed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s application for interim measures in the case on the termination of its activity. The church had requested to prohibit the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience from sending orders to its structural subdivisions, but the court rejected this request. This is reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

In support of their application, filed on September 16, representatives of the UOC pointed out that without taking interim measures, the process of terminating the activities of 154 religious organizations within its structure may begin. In their opinion, this will happen after the State Ethnopolitics Committee sends them orders to eliminate violations related to affiliation with a foreign religious organization banned in Ukraine. Following a review on September 18, the court decided to deny the petition.

This trial is part of a lawsuit filed by the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) to stop the activity of the UOC. This was preceded by the adoption in August 2024 of the law “On Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activity of Religious Organizations”, which prohibits the activity in Ukraine of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church. on August 27, the State Ethnopolitics Committee officially recognized the UOC as affiliated with the ROC, after which it filed a lawsuit in court on August 29. Consideration of the case on the merits is scheduled for September 30.

According to the law, after the recognition of affiliation, the UOC will be early deprived of the right to use state and communal property in 60 days. In turn, the UOC also filed a lawsuit demanding to recognize unlawful and cancel the order of the State Ethnopolitics on the recognition of its affiliation with the ROC.

We will remind, recently the details of the lawsuit, which the State Service of Ukraine on Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience filed in court against the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, became known. The DESS demands not only to deprive the Kyiv Metropolitan UOC of its registration, but also to take away all its property.