Сourt rules MinCulture to return Nicholas Church in Kyiv to RCC community
"Archive documents and historical facts unequivocally show that the church was intended for religious ceremonies," said the parish priest in court.
The Dnipro Administrative District Court upheld the claim and ruled to return St. Nicholas’s Church building to full use by the RCC community in Ukraine, reports the press service of the Roman Catholic parish of St. Nicholas in Kyiv.
It is noted that for a long time, the Catholic community of Ukraine has repeatedly appealed to state authorities with a demand to return St. Nicholas’s Church, which was built by Catholics over a hundred years ago.
As early as 2005, then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree instructing the government and local authorities to take the necessary measures to return the St. Nicholas Church to the community. However, the instruction remained unfulfilled.
According to the parish priest, Pavel Vyshkovsky, the fact that the church has still not been returned to the religious community is not only a violation of the parish's rights but also a betrayal of more than 25,000 citizens who signed a petition a year ago in support of the church's return and preservation, which had been ruined by its previous "owners."
"Archive documents and historical facts unequivocally show that the church was intended for religious ceremonies, and its conversion into a concert hall was an illegal act by Soviet authorities," the parish priest said during the court session.
The court, after thoroughly examining all the provided evidence, recognised the validity of the community's claims and ruled in its favour.
"If the executive authorities do not fulfil the President's order, we hope that the court's decision will be enforced, because failure to execute a court decision carries criminal responsibility," stated the community's press release.
St. Nicholas’s Church in Kyiv was built between 1899 and 1909 in the Neo-Gothic style by Ukrainian and Polish architect Władysław Horodecki, according to a design by S. V. Valovsky.
As previously reported, St. Nicholas’s Church in Kyiv was damaged by a Russian missile strike. Later, the Ministry of Culture announced plans for the church's restoration.
