Yelensky: Some constitutional provisions are being restricted today
The head of the State Ethnopolitics Service believes that even during wartime, freedom of conscience must not be restricted.
In an interview with the Verkhovna Rada TV channel, Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), stated that certain provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine are currently being restricted.
“It is very telling that during wartime some provisions of our Constitution are being limited. For example, freedom of assembly. Yes, freedom of speech may be restricted, military censorship may be introduced – but freedom of conscience must never be limited,” Yelensky said.
According to him, a person must always “act according to their conscience, and nothing should shake a person’s core beliefs.”
The official assured that “Article 35, which guarantees everyone in Ukraine – I emphasize, everyone, not just Ukrainian citizens – the freedom of conscience, remains fully in force.”
“And a person must, and does, act according to the call of their conscience. The conditions of war perhaps even underscore that a person must act as their conscience dictates,” the official added.
According to Yelensky, the SSEFC is obliged “to help religious communities not merely meet their needs, but to express their religious feelings with dignity and to fulfill their earthly mission with dignity.”
How these statements align with the government’s actions to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, he did not explain.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to Yelensky, the destruction of the UOC cannot be considered a violation of religious freedom.
