THE COURT OF APPEAL UPHELD THE VERDICT AGAINST METROPOLITAN IONAFAN OF TULCHYN AND BRATSLAV - WHAT SHOULD THE UCC DO?
 
The Court of Appeal of the Vinnytsia region upheld the verdict of the court of first instance, which found Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchyn and Bratslav guilty of criminal offences in connection with his rhetorical statements and sentenced him to 5 years' imprisonment with confiscation of property.
 
What could Metropolitan Jonathan have done to deserve such a severe punishment? According to open sources, the main complaint against him is the presentation of his views on history and canonical beliefs in the article. The full text of the court's verdict has yet to be analysed.
 
Undoubtedly, this verdict is extremely harsh, but it is also indicative, as it shows that the executive branch, which has so far been the engine of pressure on UOC believers, supporting illegal re-registrations and preparing lawsuits to terminate the rights of UOC religious communities to land and churches, has now enlisted the support of the judiciary. 
 
In our opinion, it does not matter whether these events occurred after or before the peace summit in Switzerland, the moment of the verdict is not so important, more important is that the verdict confirms the worst forecasts in relations between the UOC and the official authorities of Ukraine.
 
What should be done? At present, cases of violations of the rights of UOC believers have a significant undiscovered potential for protection, as neither the statements of lawyer Robert Amsterdam, who has not yet opened any international or judicial proceedings in the interests of the UOC, nor other actions have yet moved from the level of PR and public testimony to the facts of violations of the rights of believers to the level of international law and formalised procedures of the European Court of Human Rights, UN special procedures, and legal appeals against specific cases in the UN system of special rapporteurs. In other words, at the international level, there are many statements of concern about the situation of UOC believers, but there is virtually no open process that would address specific violations of international law by the state of Ukraine in certain cases. In fact, to date, international lawyers of the UOC have allegedly persuaded the authorities not to cross the 'red lines', convincing them not to take new erroneous steps, but this tactic has clearly not worked.
 
If the UOC defence does not find ways to radically change its tactics at the international level in the near future and does not open specific international legal processes that can actually consider the facts of violations of the rights of UOC believers, and does not achieve a direct and concrete reaction from the international community to the sentence of Metropolitan Jonathan, we should expect new exemplary sentences against UOC metropolitans, new unjustifiably heavy punishments, and possibly the adoption of new odious laws.

The current legal realities in cases where the offender is the state or the defence is against a systemic state policy of pressure and unlawful pressure, do not suggest any other way of defence than systematic international work, and in our opinion, it should have long ago moved from the level of media commentary to the level of specific international processes, lawsuits and complaints.
 
Media and diplomatic campaigns, with the support of the international legal element, remain the last tool of legal defence in the cases of the UOC.

Oleg Denisov
Head of the international human rights organisation
"Public Advocacy"
 
Important: З 18.06. 2024, THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL GROUP OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION "CHURCH AGAINST XENOPHOBIA AND DISCRIMINATION" HAS BEEN PROVIDING LEGAL PROTECTION TO BELIEVERS AND RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS OF ORTHODOX LOCAL CHURCHES AT THE INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL LEVELS on the basis of appeals and requests from believers: Read more.

Important: since 18.06.2024, a fundraising campaign has been organised to strengthen the international protection of UOC believers - you can support the actions for the international protection of believers with a financial donation by following the link.