Strasbourg, France, October 14, 2024
Photo: uoc-news.church
On September 26, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights opened proceedings in a case regarding the illegal ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Gorodische, Volyn Province.
Fr. Valery Pilipchuk, a cleric of the Volyn Diocese, is trying to prove through the court that the Gorodsiche Village Council acted illegally when it voted to ban the activities of the UOC on June 23, 2022, reports the Information-Education Department of the UOC.
Neither the constitution of Ukraine nor the Law of Ukraine “On Local Self-Government in Ukraine” gives the village council the right to suspend Church activities in the community during martial law.
On February 1, 2023, the Volyn District Administrative Court rejected the priest’s petition. Fr. Valery filed an appeal, which the appellate administrative court also dismissed. After this, he prepared an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
If the European Court of Human Rights satisfies Fr. Valery’s complaint, it will establish that the state of Ukraine violated the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion—in particular, the right (freedom) to profess one’s religion or beliefs both individually and together with others, and the right (freedom) to profess one’s religion or beliefs in public or private in teaching, worship, practice and observance of religious practices and religious and ritual rites.
The Volyn Diocese emphasizes that Ukraine ranks third in the world in the number of appeals to the European Court of Human Rights. It writes that this indicates great trust in the European Court against the background of distrust in national justice.
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