The sixth administrative court of appeal has rejected the Culture Ministry's appeal against the 22 April 2019 resolution of Kyiv's district administrative court which suspended the renaming of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
"The court upheld the resolution of the district court which banned state registrars from registering or making entries about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, including making new entries in the Single State Register," the law department of the Moscow-run church said.
The law obliging the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to change its name to indicate its affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church came into effect on 26 January.
The Culture Ministry obliged a number of religious organisations to change their names accordingly by 26 April 2019.
The church refused to change its name and recognize the newly-established Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
On 6 April, Kyiv's district administrative court upheld Opposition Bloc MP Oleksandr Dolzhenkov's motion to rule the renaming demand invalid. Thus, the court suspended the Culture Ministry's order.