The Holy Cross Exaltation Church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) was illegally destroyed in the Crimean city of Yevpatoria. The Prosecutorʼs Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol opened a criminal case for violating the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
This was reported by the Prosecutorʼs Office of the Autonomous Region.
Yesterday, July 21, representatives of the occupation authorities began dismantling the Holy Cross Exaltation Church of the OCU in Yevpatoria. Earlier, in 2019, the occupying Yevpatoriya City Court made an illegal decision to demolish this church.
As noted in the prosecutorʼs office, such actions grossly violate the requirements of Article 147 of the Geneva Convention for the Protection of the Civilian Population in Time of War of 1949, which prohibits the destruction of property not justified by military necessity, as well as Article 56 of the Hague Regulations on the Laws and Customs of War of 1907, which provides protection of religious institutions from seizure, destruction or intentional damage.
In February 2024, the Autonomous Prosecutorʼs Office and the non-governmental organization Global Rights Compliance submitted an information submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC) about the crimes of the Russian occupation authorities against religious groups in Crimea. This submission contains evidence of systematic persecution and pressure on the religious communities of the peninsula, in particular the destruction of the churches of the Crimean Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.