Lvov, 22 November 2011

Mr Thomas Hammarberg

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

Dear Sir,

we have come to learn that from 19 to 26 November You are staying in Ukraine and having meetings with ombudsmen, public representatives, representatives of the Ministries as well as with the victims of human rights violations. You said that Your report would be objective and its fruit would be recommendations directly to the Government of Ukraine, and if the Government did not want to take this recommendations into account, the matter would be addressed to the European Court.

Lvov, 11 November 2011

On 27-28 October 2011, ex-Bishops of the UGCC (Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church) and RCC (Roman-Catholic Church) met together to discuss how to eliminate competition, namely the Ukrainian orthodox Greek-Catholic Church (UOGCC). UOGCC has applied to the state for legal registration for more than two years. Throughout the period the leadership of the apostatical UGCC has exerted systematic and intense pressure on state authorities in order to prevent this registration of the orthodox Catholic Church by any means. And then they state hypocritically: “UOGCC is not registered because it is a dangerous totalitarian sect similar to the White Brotherhood.” The meeting was closed on 28 October 2011 with a press conference and with an appeal to the Catholic believers, the Government and the President based on lies and manipulations with the purpose of eliminating the orthodox Church (UOGCC).

Lvov, 1^st September 2011

Members of the Ukrainian Parliament

Dear Members of Parliament,

we would like to ask You to deal with an urgent issue at the Parliament session on Tuesday 6^th September 2011, namely with religious discrimination now already associated with deportation and dissolution.

As from 10^th September 2011, Ukraine is introducing liberalization of the visa regime between Ukraine and the EU. The State Committee of Ukraine on Matters of Nationalities and Religions has been illegally blocking the registration of a religious minority – Ukrainian orthodox Greek-Catholic Church (UOGCC) for two years. From this it follows:

a) 23 contemplative sisters from the monastery of St. Elijah the Prophet find themselves outside the law, they will not obtain documentation for a long-stay visa and will have to leave Ukraine. They do not have monastery in the EU. Religious discrimination de facto passes into their dissolution.

Lvov, 1^st September 2011

Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine

Head of Delegation

Jos? Manuel Pinto Teixeira

Dear Mr Teixeira,

we turn to You in the matter of violations of human rights in the field of discrimination of a religious minority. Specifically, the enquiry here is discrimination of the Ukrainian orthodox Greek-Catholic Church (UOGCC). Monitoring over the Ukraine concerning observance of human rights is delegated to Mrs Reps and Mrs Wolwend. Their duty is to solve a specific problem which threatens to develop into an international scandal. The main culprits in the religious discrimination against the UOGCC are Deputy Minister of Culture, Mr Y.Bohutskyi, and Minister of Justice, Mr O. Lavrynovych. The new law on the liberalization of visa regime connected with the promotion of antidiscrimination laws does not bring liberalization but has an opposite effect. EU citizens in Ukraine, 23 religious sisters, are not only in danger of discrimination but also of deportation and, de facto, liquidation. Some of them have been in Ukraine for 17 years. The root of the problem is that there has been unlawfully refused registration of the Ukrainian orthodox Greek-Catholic Church (UOGCC) for two years. As a consequence of this religious discrimination, the Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate and 23 religious sisters now cannot be granted long-term visas.

Lvov, 11^th August 2011

President of Ukraine

V. Yanukovych

Dear Mr President,

the laws relating to religious discrimination and fomentation of religious hatred are being violated in Ukraine. These crimes are committed by the state authorities, namely by the Regional State Administration in Lvov (R. Kurash) and Regional State Administration in Ternopol (I. Kulchytskyi). The police in Lvov and Chortkiv (Ternopol region) cooperates with them in these crimes.

Lvov, 25 July 2011

Mayor of the City of Lvov

A. Sadovyi

Dear Sir,

on 14 December 2010, we requested You personally to put a place at our disposal where we could celebrate Divine Liturgies. Specifically, we applied for the Jesuit Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Lvov. You said that it was not possible because You had already donated it to the UGCC. You suggested that we should look for some other place in Lvov. We found a disused warehouse which was once a church. We bought it lawfully and it became our private property. We did most urgent repairs. We put on a new roof and now we use the church for regular worship and Liturgies for our faithful.

21 July 2011

Religious sisters of the Ukrainian orthodox Greek-Catholic Church have their chapel in Lvov on 6, Pluhova St., which is their private property. On Sunday 17 July 2011, another of a series of provocative actions organized by the Redemptorists and apostatical UGCC hierarchy took place in front of the chapel, during which they “sanctified” a cross. This all took place under the leadership of O. Fredyna, until recently chancellor of the Lvov archeparchy. He now holds the new office of a church political instructor of the Lvov City Council. This office is an anachronism since the Church in Ukraine is separated from the state. The main purpose of their action was to defame the orthodox Catholics, to incite the UGCC faithful against them, to arouse religious hatred and, finally, to steal the chapel, which is the private property of the sisters, or at least to prevent celebration of Divine Liturgies in that place. In other words – religious discrimination! The orthodox Catholics, though being publicly defamed during the provocative action, did not repay evil for evil.

The relatives involved, with the support of government authorities and police forces, took the girl from the monastery against her will, resorting to violence and deceit. The responsibility for such actions lies with Card. L. Husar and Archbp. I. Voznyak. These are actions directed towards a decay of the Catholic Church: proclamation of heresies, persecution of those who speak openly about apostasy from faith, and, moreover, an abuse of the feelings of parents and an abuse of the state authorities.

The monastery came out of the jurisdiction of Card. L. Husar who overtly preaches heresies. The monastery supports the attitude of the orthodox Catholic Bishops’ Synod headed by Archbishop Mikhailo Osidach, wherefore a great pressure on the part of the Church government is being exerted upon it.

Under the pressure of Card. L. Husar and his co-workers the state authorities refuse to register the orthodox Catholic Synod, which, however, contradicts the Ukrainian laws. This fact puts the orthodox Catholic Synod, sisters of the contemplative monastery, laymen and all who support them outside the law. This is religious discrimination.