Author of antichurch bills denies persecutions of the UOC

MP of Ukraine and President of the Ukrainian Association of Religious Freedom Victor Yelensky declared the UOC in Ukraine is not subject to persecutions. The author of antichurch bills told about it to the ”Obozrevatel”.

"Infringements and persecutions are fantasies that are broadcast from Moscow, which, in turn, sees the UOC-MP as a branch of the Russian Church," the MP stated.

At the same time, the facts of violations against the UOC were recognized by two authoritative international organizations – the US State Department in their report on religion for 2015 and in the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

It is more than once that representatives of other religious denominations have written about violations of rights of parishioners of the canonical Church in Ukraine. Bishop of the RCC Stanisalv Shirokradiuk said about Yelensky’s draft law as follows, “ It is clearly written here that everything is being done so that the Kiev Patriarchate can take over parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate. A corrupt scheme is being created so that parishes freely move to the Kiev Patriarchate.”