The Ukrainian mass media have published information about the political parties of the Ukrainian parliament whose deputies are ready to vote in favor of draft law No 8371 aimed at banning the activity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. According to the media, the list of those willing is missing only representatives of the Opposition Platform for Life and Peace party, individual deputies of the Servants of the People and non-factional. About it reports “Glavkom”.
According to the newspaper, MPs from the parties “European Solidarity”, “Trust”, “Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc”, “Voice” and “For the Future” are ready to join the vote for the ban of the UOC. As for the “Servants of the People” – in this faction not all MPs agree with the provisions of the bill No. 8371.
“It is also known that not the entire faction of the ruling party will support this initiative, as there are lobbyists of the Moscow Patriarchate there. In particular, Eugene Bragar, as it became known, in the pro-government faction, called the bill “discriminatory” and such that will entail “outrage of the world community.” But, according to the “servants”, deputy speaker Oleksandr Kornienko believes that the bill does not need to be sent to the Venice Commission, because only those laws that can relate to the common legal field with the EU should be coordinated with the EU”, – the report said.
The publication lamented that because of the uncertain positions in the pro-government faction, it will be necessary to seek votes in other parties in Parliament.
“It is worth recalling here that late last year, at the suggestion of MP Artem Kultenko (“Servant of the People”), who supports the Moscow Patriarchate, the deputy chairman of the pro-government faction, Andriy Motovilovets, appealed to Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk to send the government draft to the Venice Commission for review. But later Motovilovets withdrew his signature, noting that he wanted to remain neutral. “Given this situation in the faction ‘Servant of the People’ and the results of the vote in the first reading (‘for’ the government draft was 267 votes), other factions and groups should be involved again to support this initiative”, – the publication added.
It is worth noting that the head of the international human rights company “Amsterdam & Partners LLP” Robert Amsterdam, representing the legal interests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, called the law No. 8371, aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, “a form of purposeful discrimination, which will collectively punish innocent Ukrainian citizens by depriving them of the church”. The human rights activist believes that by adopting such laws, the Ukrainian government retreats from political responsibility and conducts unconstructive activities.
