As of February 15, 2021, the courts are considering two cases at the suit of the Zolochiv City Council, in which the SPA lawyers defend the interests of the religious community of the UOC, its abbot Maxim Yoenko and the priest’s wife Olga Shakhoval. This is reported by the Union of Orthodox Lawyers in its Telegram channel.

1. Under consideration in the Lviv Regional Administrative Court (judge Varvara Anatolyevna Potabenko) there is case No. 380/9072/20 (production P / 380/9284/20) at the suit of the Zolochiv City Council of the Lviv Region to the Department of Urban Development, Architecture, Housing and Utilities and environmental protection of the Zolochiv Regional State Administration of the Lviv Region, the State Architectural and Construction Inspection of Ukraine, a third party without independent claims on the defendant’s side: Shakhoval Olga Vladimirovna (wife of the priest of the UOC Maxim Yoenko), on the recognition of illegal and cancellation of the construction passport and a message about the start of construction work.

2. Under consideration in the Ternopil Regional Administrative Court (judge Podlisna Irina Nikolaevna) there is case No. 380/7527/20 (production P / 500/4106/20) on the claim of the Zolochevsky city council of the year in Olga Vladimirovna Shakhoval “on dismantling the illegally installed fence” and counterclaim Shakhoval Olga Vladimirovna “on the recognition and cancellation of the decision of the executive committee of the Zolochiv City Council of 13.07.2020 No. 1330”

SPA claims that in both of these cases the Zolochiv City Council showed a biased attitude towards the family of the priest of the UOC, and went to court with claims, in order to obstruct the reconstruction and construction of the family of their own house on their own land plot on the street. Trusha I., 9 in the city of Zolochev. SPA assesses the decision of the Zolochiv City Council as unlawful, taken outside its own authority, in violation of the order and method of making such decisions on the basis of an incorrect assessment of the actual circumstances and arbitrary interpretation of the norms of the current legislation.

The SPA believes that by its actions the authorities groundlessly interfere not only in the personal life of the priest’s family, but also resists in fulfilling the religious needs of the local religious community of the UOC. These actions of the city authorities are already being considered in the framework of criminal proceedings. Open criminal proceedings under article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.