On Wednesday, August 26, a meeting of foreign diplomats and heads of state bodies of Ukraine with Metropolitan Epiphanius and Klyment took place on the state of religious freedom in the occupied Crimea. In particular, it became known that the resolution on transferring the premises of the cathedral in Simferopol to the state property of Ukraine will be considered by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine at the next meetings. This was reported by the press service of the Representative Office of the President of Ukraine in the ARC.
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“MP of Ukraine, Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Ievheniia Kravchuk emphasized that the resolution on transferring to the state property of Ukraine the premises of the Cathedral of Saint Volodymyr and Olha in Simferopol, in which the Crimean Diocese of the OCU conducts divine services, will be supported by the relevant committee and will be considered by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine at the next meetings”,- the message said.
The Prosecutor of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Ihor Ponochovny noted that the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea exercises procedural guidance in three criminal proceedings regarding the oppression of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine on the temporarily occupied peninsula on the basis of illegal actions by representatives of the occupation authorities aimed at persecuting religious communities.
“These are the facts of the seizure by armed individuals of the building of the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos of the OCU, located in the village of Perevalne, Simferopol district of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, on June 1, 2015, and the prohibition of the abbot and parishioners in the service and on the fact of appropriation of immovable and movable property of the Directorate of the Crimean Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and other violations of property rights by the occupying authorities of Crimea (including in the cities of Sevastopol, Simferopol, Yevpatoria, the village of Perevalne, etc.), as a result of which the ministers of the church were deprived of the opportunity to conduct religious rituals”,- the office added.
We remind that on August 4, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation refused to reconsider the decision to evict the OCU community from the Cathedral in Simferopol. As noted by the lawyer Serhii Zaiets, this means the complete elimination of the Ukrainian Orthodox community in Crimea, and with such actions the Russian Federation continues to purge Crimea from everything Ukrainian.