Metropolitan Feodosiy of Cherkasy has commented on the statement by the Ukrainian parliamentary commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, about the absence of appeals to him by the administrator of the Cherkasy diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The commentary was published by the Telegraf newspaper.

“In his recent statement on his own Telegram channel, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, as a reaction to my speech in defense of the UOC at the UN, wrote that he had not received any appeals from Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kanev about the violation of the rights of the UOC believers. The Ombudsman also wrote that the rights of believers are protected by law”, – the hierarch said.

He added that, indeed, did not send to the Ombudsman statements due to the fact that firstly, “the powers of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights do not provide for the possibility of interference in cases that are under consideration of the court or law enforcement agencies, and mostly the believers of the UOC complain about the violation of their rights to the law enforcement system. Secondly because in previous years the office of the Ombudsman received dozens of appeals from UOC believers, which in particular can be ascertained from the report of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for 2020, where in particular it is stated that “The Commissioner received 127 reports, which is 7% more than in 2019 (118), regarding discrimination on the basis of religious beliefs and violation of the right to freedom of worldview and religion…”.

“Let us hope that the inevitable attention of the international community, and especially human rights defenders around the world, will help to finally protect the rights and freedoms of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in their own country”, – Metropolitan Theodosius emphasized.