On May 14, 2021, a court session was held in the District Court of Berezne about the use of the Church of Apostles Peter and Paul in the village of Malinsk in the Rivne region. As a result of the court session, the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Malinsk won a lawsuit filed by supporters of the OCU, UOJ reports.
As noted by the lawyer of the Sarny diocese Raisa Prikhodko, the newly formed community of the OCU filed a lawsuit against the individual Volodymyr Gnes.
“The paradox of this situation is that Volodymyr Gnes is the rector of the church of Apostles Peter and Paul of the UOC in the village of Malinsk,” the lawyer commented on the case. “But since the regional state administration liquidated the UOC community on the basis of a pseudo-assembly of the OCU, they cannot appeal to its rector.”
As evidence of their claims to the church, supporters of the OCU provided the court with their falsified document for “ownership right” to the church of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Malinsk. They motivated their action by the fact that the UOC community had lost the certificate of ownership of the church, which is not true.
“The certificate is with the rector, he showed it to the court. At the end of the session, father Volodymyr wrote a statement to the police about forging a document, criminal proceedings were initiated,” said lawyer Raisa Prikhodko.
Based on the results of the consideration of the case, the Berezne District Court ruled to deny the claim to the OCU community.