The Bessarabian Metropolis Won a Court Hearing Against the Moldovan Metropolis

The Chisinau Court of Appeal rejected the complaint filed by the State Cadastre. This was reported by BM lawyer Iulian Rusanovschi. The decision confirms the right of the Metropolis of Bessarabia to demand the removal of “usage rights” entries that were unlawfully added to the real estate registry in the name of the Metropolis of Moldova for more than 800 churches classified as historical monuments in the Republic of Moldova, rupor.md reports. The dispute began after the religious community of the “Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel” church came under the jurisdiction of the Metropolis of Bessarabia. Following this transition, priest Teodor Pelin and the Bessarabian Metropolis demanded the annulment of the usage rights to the church that had previously been assigned to the Metropolis of Moldova. Their claim is based on a June 2023 decision by the Chisinau Court of Appeal, which invalidated the 2003 gratuitous use agreement concluded between the Ministry of Culture and the Moldovan Metropolis. In its refusal, the state enterprise “Real Estate Cadastre” demanded the consent of the Moldovan Metropolis for the removal of the usage rights. The Court of Appeal deemed this requirement “absurd and unlawful”. Under Article 439(1)(б) of the Civil Code, any interested party may request the annulment of entries in the real estate registry if they are based on acts that have become invalid or have lost their legal force. “We hope that this ruling will compel the state enterprise ‘Real Estate Cadastre’ to comply with its legal obligations and to stop obstructing religious communities that are joining the Bessarabian Metropolis. The previous refusal to annul the usage rights constituted clear interference in religious freedom and in the activities of the Metropolis of Bessarabia,” said the BM’s lawyer, Iulian Rusanovschi. The legal dispute between the two metropolises sees over the right to use historic church-monuments has been ongoing for more than 12 years, Rusanovschi noted. Changes to the real estate register can be made only on the basis of a final ruling, and this case has gone through several procedural stages, reaching the Supreme Court of Justice eight times.