Rivne Regional Council rejects petition to cancel decision on UOC ban

A session of the Rivne regional council on 22 September 2023. Photo: a video screenshot of the regional council’s press service

On September 22, 2023, the Rivne Regional Council did not support an online petition to repeal its decision from April 10 to ban the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the region.

The decision to reject the petition was made during the session of the regional council without discussion. It was supported by 42 deputies, while two did not vote.

As previously reported, the petition was registered on the regional council's website on June 26 by the leader of the Rivne branch of the Public Union "Myriany" Tetiana Tsaruk. Within eight days, the document collected one thousand signatures required for its consideration by the deputies.

On July 17, the petition was reviewed by the permanent committee of the regional council responsible for matters of regulations, law enforcement activities and anti-corruption efforts. The committee members concluded that the request from the region's residents should be rejected.

The decision of the regional council from April 10 titled "On the Issue of Banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church" not only involves the direct prohibition of the UOC's activities but also includes the cancellation of several decisions by the regional executive committee of 1991 and 1992 regarding the registration of statutes of UOC communities and the transfer of church buildings into their use. Additionally, the deputies approved three appeals: one to the Verkhovna Rada, urging the immediate adoption of a law banning the UOC, another to local self-government bodies to cease UOC activities in the territorial communities of the region, and a third to the State Inspection of Architecture and Urban Planning of Ukraine, requesting an investigation into the legality of issuing permits and the legality of UOC church construction in the region.

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