The European Court of Human Rights has opened legal proceedings over a complaint filed by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church community of Ptichya about the confiscation of the church

March 14, 2019 – the European Court of Human Rights addressed an official notification of the admissibility of the complaint and the opening of the legal proceedings to the religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) in the village Ptichya of Rovno region in connection to multiple seizures of the church, which took place with the support and inaction of public authorities at various levels, reports the NGO “Public Advocacy”.

For a long time, despite the existence of a court-confirmed title of ownership, the community was unable to use its own church, which was seized at the request of investigators as part of a criminal inquiry. The local authorities instead of resolving the conflict according to the law, i.e. to punish the raiders of the church, have, de facto, taken away the right to use the church.The fact that a Ukrainian Orthodox Church community cannot use its own property constitutes an obvious violation of international law, the “Public Advocacy” concludes.