A new document has been developed to supplement the list of legal grounds for the termination of the activities of religious organizations, whose authorized representatives have been convicted of crimes against the national security of Ukraine or of criminal offenses. The document suggests the need to ban the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church (MPROC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) subordinate to it through a court decision, in light of their violations of citizen equality, propagation of war, participation in terrorist acts, violations of laws and customs of war, genocide, and mercenarism.
After the full-scale invasion of Russia, the killing of thousands of Ukrainian citizens by Russian occupiers, the devastation of infrastructure, and acts of genocide and ecocide, there is an urgent need to create legal grounds for the prohibition of the activities of the MPROC and UOC in Ukraine through the court. This initiative aims to address the violation of citizen equality based on their race, nationality, and religious beliefs, the propagation and participation in war on the side of the aggressor, involvement in terrorist acts, violations of laws and customs of war, genocide, and mercenarism.
Among the initiators of the bill are Mykyta Poturaev, the Chairman of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, Yevheniya Kravchuk, the Deputy Chairman of the committee, Volodymyr Viatrovych, Mykhailo Kriachko, Mykola Kniashchuk, Iryna Konstantkevych, Oleksandr Sanchenko, Rostyslav Pavlenko, Pavlo Bakunets, Mykhailo Tsymbaliuk, Mykola Stefanchuk, and other Members of Parliament.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) also joined the initiative to amend the existing law and sent proposals to Mykyta Poturaev, the Chairman of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy. The letter to the parliamentarians emphasizes that the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) on the territory of Ukraine are aimed at supporting the aggression of the Russian Federation, implementing genocidal policies, and deporting Ukrainians.
The document states that the UOC, which claims not to be subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate, is in fact a “structural unit of the ROC, which has certain rights to self-formation without its own canonical subjectivity and is in a relationship of subordination to the ROC.”
“The ROC is not separate from the Russian state, and its leadership has close interaction with state authorities and special services, effectively performing the functions of state officials in the religious realm and implementing Russia’s state policy through the means of power and influence available to them,” the explanatory note to the bill emphasizes.
According to the SBU, the security service is actively combating subversive activities of Russian special services and criminal elements in the religious environment of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, based on the materials of the SBU, pre-trial investigations have been conducted into 65 criminal cases against 65 clergy of the UOC, including 15 archbishops, some of whom are legal directors of religious administrations, centers, monasteries, etc.
“Among the crimes exposed are 20 cases of treason, collaborationism, and complicity with the aggressor country. In addition, law enforcement agencies are investigating 18 cases of public incitement to religious hatred, as well as the sale of firearms and the dissemination of child pornography. As a result of operational and investigative activities, 26 individuals representing the UOC (MP), have been notified of suspicion, and another 19 criminals have been sentenced,” the SBU reports. They further highlight that no hostile henchman will be able to hide from justice for crimes against Ukraine.
At the same time, in line with the initiative of the Security Service of Ukraine, Ukrainian citizenship has been revoked from 19 representatives of the UOC who hold Russian passports and have been spreading pro-Kremlin narratives about the war in Ukraine. Among them are metropolitans from the regions of Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Odessa, as well as from the temporarily occupied Crimea.
The Security Service underscores that it operates exclusively within the framework of the Constitution and current legislation of Ukraine and respects the rights of every citizen to freedom of religion and worldview.
In developing the bill, Members of Parliament took into account the fact that the social danger of committing criminal offenses, crimes against the national security of Ukraine, as well as criminal offenses under articles 161, 258-258-6, 436-438, 442, 447 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and the potential to influence citizens during religious rituals, worship, religious rites and ceremonies, religious education, which involve a large number of citizens, the actions of clergy can lead to the creation of centers of social tension and incitement of Ukrainian citizens to unlawful actions, particularly in the conditions of full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine.
Source: Політика / Жоден ворожий поплічник у рясі не сховається від правосуддя