'Church laws' aimed at liquidating UOC-MP - lawyer

13:46, 16.01.2019 1 min read

So-called "church laws" Nos. 5309, 4128 and 4511 are related and aimed at liquidating Ukraine's Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) by means of the seizure of its property, the UOC-MP's lead lawyer and Archbishop Oleksandr Bakhov has alleged.

"Bills No. 5309 (already in force), No. 4128 and No. 4511 are interrelated. They are part of the same package and are aimed at eliminating the activity of the UOC-MP through raider seizure through its renaming (No. 5309), seizing its property (No. 4128) and interventions in governing bodies (No. 4511)," Balakhov said on Wednesday.

The lawyer said the bills, if adopted, would make the transitions of church communities legal, and the state will be able to manipulate and "indicate to the religious community who its members are."

The UOC-MP said on January 15 Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy, said gave instructions to finalize draft law No. 4128 on the procedure for changing the religious affiliation of a religious community and that parliament could consider the bill during its next session.