The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy at a meeting today, August 16, recommended that deputies adopt in the second reading and as a whole draft law No. 8371, which prohibits the activities of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
Deputy Chairman of the Committee Evgeniya Kravchuk reported this in a comment to the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
The committee recommended adopting the bill in the second reading and as a whole, Kravchuk said. And here it should be noted that the committee supported the decision unanimously.
She noted that the committee members discussed and supported the introduction of the following amendments to the bill:
- the name of the law will be changed and it will be called “On the protection of the constitutional order in the sphere of activities of religious organizations”;
- A compromise was reached on the issue of the timing of the law’s entry into force.
The law itself is expected to come into force 30 days after publication, except for two points.
The first point, concerning the beginning of the preparation of the Cabinet of Ministers’ regulation, begins the day after its publication. And the point, in fact, allows the State Service for Ethnopolicy and Freedom of Conscience to go to court to sue for the termination of the activities of a religious organization if it has established its connection with the ROC (Russian Orthodox Church) of the aggressor country. This is nine months. In fact, this is more than enough for all Ukrainian religious organizations to decide what path they have, – Kravchuk noted.
According to Kravchuk, in the bill for the second reading, the committee “correctly wrote out the clause” concerning rent, the rights of religious organizations, “which, of course, have no ties to the Russian Orthodox Church,” to use state and municipal property free of charge.
We have prescribed that in fact religious buildings, that is, churches that are in state and municipal ownership, can be transferred free of charge for use by religious organizations for holding worship services, that is, everything that is related to religious practice. And this procedure must be established by the Cabinet of Ministers, she said.
Kravchuk noted that absolutely all denominations had asked for this, and the adoption of a bill with such a provision would finally allow the transfer of the Church of St. Nicholas in Kyiv to the Roman Catholic community.
Kravchuk added that the Verkhovna Rada will begin its work in plenary mode to vote on this particular bill.
The Rada adopted bill No. 8371 in the first reading back in October 2023. A long delay in submitting it for consideration in the second reading led to the parliamentary deputies blocking the rostrum in July 2024.
Source: Interfax-Ukraine
Source: Racurs
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