Judging Mayor of Kolomyia thinks up a “grab” scheme for the UOC temple. Reportage from the session room

The mayor of Kolomyia continues to serve the interests of a group of people who are trying to take away the temple from the UOC community, which has legitimately used the building of the church for many years.

In order to find the grounds and give any evidence of legitimacy to the church takeover, the mayor's office together with the "activists" and chaplains of the UGCC came up with a special pseudo-legal procedure, creating a strange formation called a "working group". This meeting allegedly included representatives of both sides, however there were just several representatives from the UOC, while the UGCC chaplains and their supporters in the "group" had more than 12 people. At the same time, all issues in the "group" for some reason were resolved by voting (the UOC with its 2 votes, of course, cannot decide the fate of its own church). And although the law does not give the right to either the mayor or any other (except for the court) bodies to demand documents from the community, in the course of the community meeting they tried to get the documents of title to the temple almost by force, trying to find at least some pretexts for accusations and claims toward the UOC community. A statement by the representative of the UOC requesting that at least some documents be submitted in support of the legal rights of UGCC adherents were completely ignored by both the mayor of the city and members of the "working group".

On the other hand, all attendees could actively look for various inconsistencies in the documents of the UOC, and also express their thoughts on the apparent shortcomings in the documentation of the community from the rostrum.

At the same time, the mayor's legal illiteracy took on a hypertrophic character, because he imagined himself to be a judge and began to "question" representatives of state bodies and the community, ask them various questions, demand "to immediately provide documents, otherwise criminal proceedings will be opened", and "examine the legal side of the matter". Upon the objections of representatives of the UOC that according to the Constitution of Ukraine justice in Ukraine is carried out only by the court, and only within the framework of the judicial procedure can the accused party have at least some guarantees for its own defense, while the mayor is not at all authorized to "demand" or "investigate " – the members of the" working group "did not respond and continued to search for the most obvious way for them to beat their fellow citizens lawfully.

At the same time, neither the mayor with the chaplains nor the UGCC "activists" conceal the fact that they know the illegitimacy of both the meeting itself and their demands, but nobody intends to stop.

Thus, the mayor openly declared that he was turning right now to the police with a statement about the opening of criminal proceedings, and the behavior of the UOC representatives had to become the subject of the proceeding (which was not specified though and probably is to be found "as it progresses"). After a while following a lively discussion concerning what one can bring to justice the UOC believers for, the path was found! It turns out that it is possible to blame the UOC community for the fact that all these years without permission, or even with permission, it has been improperly repairing the church! Mild objections from the representative of the department of culture that after all the repair of the temple is good, and the UOC community managed to preserve the church and use it normally were not taken into account, and the "Sanhedrin" continued its "work".

Read also: Working group in Kolomyia is lawlessness, – representative of UOC

The position of the police chief who, having heard such a "task" from the mouth of the mayor, immediately reported that he would certainly open criminal proceedings on the fact of violations by the UOC community and even attract experts to examine the temple and identify shortcomings in the activities of the UOC (and all this was done within the not yet open criminal proceeding!). It seems that the gallant chief of the police will certainly find "violations" in the actions of the UOC. At the same time, he very conveniently "forgot" that, according to the current legislation, he actually has no right to open criminal proceedings: only the investigator has the right to do this, and only after studying at least an application (which hasn’t been filed yet) and preliminary verification of the grounds for opening criminal proceedings. That is, even having received a statement, even if it was personally handed over by the police chief (which in itself is strange), the investigator should at least read it and think about if there is any ground to start a legal action? But why should one look for the grounds and wait for the investigator's decision if everything is clear, because the demands come from the mayor himself and representatives of the untouchable community of the UGCC, whereas the UOC community is just a victim that can be kicked as you like, and the law in this situation is not important And even hinders. Why comply with the formalities, write a statement to the investigator and wait for his decision – everything is already clear. What plan of investigative actions, the secret of investigation or independence of the investigator can one talk about? And right here, in the hall of the working group, there were immediately given "suggestions" on which expert the investigator should select to carry out investigative actions in the framework of a criminal proceeding which has yet to be opened.

Meanwhile in the same room there is a lively discussion between the UGCC chaplains, clerics of the UAOC and the UOC-KP on the matter of who will own the temple after the community of the UOC is expelled from there. After all, for members of the "working group" this is already a fait accompli.

Obviously, the goal of the Kolomyia arbitrariness is not the respect for the law, but a set of documentary and psychological motivation aimed at taking the temple away from Ukrainian citizens who dare to profess their religious beliefs in the "wrong" Church.

So, new debates await the UOC community, together with verification in the framework of a criminal proceeding, verification of the fulfillment of its duties for the maintenance of the church, and new "negotiating" debates within the "working group".