The Sevastopol ‘court’ ordered the Crimean Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) to vacate some of church’s premises and pay a fine.
The Archbishop Kliment of Simferopol and Crimea told about that to the Golos Kryma information agency.
The Sevastopol Court of Appeal delivered this judgement and obliged the Crimean Diocese of the UOC-KP to pay 0.5 million rubles to the ‘Ministry’ of Property and Land Relations of Crimea and vacate 122 square meters on the ground floor of the Cathedral of Saints Vladimir and Olga in Simferopol on June 14.
“On June 14, the session of the Sevastopol Court of Appeal was held. We filed a lawsuit there to reverse the judgment of the Arbitration Court of Crimea dated January 14, 2016, by which we were demanded to vacate some of church’s premises and pay a huge fine. The Court of Appeal upheld the Arbitration Court’s judgment. We are waiting for executive service representatives, who will come to implement the court’s judgement, from day to day,” Kliment said.
According to the Archbishop, at the time when the Crimean ‘government’ is trying to create conditions to destroy the UOC-KP on the peninsula, the Ukrainian government doesn’t take even minimal measures to support the Ukrainian Church in Crimea. The Ukrainian government still hasn’t transferred the church’s premises, where the Crimean Diocesan administration and the Cathedral are housed, into ownership of the UOC-KP.
“It would be enough to amend the existing resolutions and adopt them by the decision of the government or the Verkhovna Rada. It would allow us to seek justice and protection in international courts,” the Archbishop Kliment said.
The Archbishop also added that the pressure on him was increased in these days and he started to receive threats against him.
As a reminder, some church’s premises of the UOC-KP in Simferopol was auctioned in June of 2015. The public non-commercial movement “Razum” that offered 150 thousand rubles per month for the rental property won the tenancy auction. The Archbishop Kliment repeatedly appealed to Ukrainian authorities with a request to approve relevant decisions to protect property rights of the UOC-KP in Crimea.
