The head of the Synodal Information Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Kliment (Vecherya), believes that the scandalous draft law No 8371 aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will also contribute to the large-scale expropriation of church property. About it the hierarch said in a comment to the edition “Strana.UA”.

“Thus there will be a large-scale discrimination of the believers of the UOC – citizens of our country. After all, they will be groundlessly deprived of the right to use their temples, places for prayer and will be forced to perform their religious rites, somewhere secretly hiding only because they refuse to betray their religious beliefs. This is exactly what Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev did”, – Metropolitan Kliment said.

The hierarch emphasized that the deputies who lobby the bill to ban the UOC are deliberately lying about the fact that it will not affect the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This is why they do not want to send the bill to the Venice Commission for examination, because they realize that it violates the basic rights and freedoms of citizens.

“If Poturaev and Vyatrovich said that the bill does not carry a threat to freedom of conscience, then they simply deceived once again. Otherwise, they would not be afraid of its examination by the Venice Commission like hellfire”, – the bishop said.

We would like to point out that earlier we reported that the head of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, MP of the pro-presidential party Mykita Poturaev, said that after the adoption of the law No 8371, communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be able to ban on the basis of publications in the media, statements by local authorities or public organizations.