Court upholds eviction of UOC community from Kniazhychi monastery
Ukraine’s highest court has effectively legalized the local authorities’ decision to hand the Transfiguration Monastery over for use by the OCU.
The Supreme Court of Ukraine has left unchanged the rulings of the lower and appellate courts, which upheld the legality of transferring the building complex of the Transfiguration Monastery in the village of Kniazhychi to the structure headed by Dumenko, Kyiv Regional Council deputy Roman Tytikalo said on Facebook. The case concerns the monastic complex in Brovary district of Kyiv region, which the canonical Church had restored and used for many years.
The legal campaign against the monastery began back in 2022, when the Brovary City Council carried out an “inventory” of monastery property. Following that review, officials claimed that some buildings on the site had allegedly been erected without proper permits and that the land plots were being used without authorization. On that basis, city council deputies unilaterally terminated the UOC’s right to use the land and signed a lease transferring the entire complex to the OCU.
Representatives of the OCU then went to court seeking enforcement of the local government’s decision. Courts at every level sided with the OCU, ignoring the arguments of the UOC community. According to Tytikalo, the current Supreme Court ruling “opens the way” for the implementation of the city council’s decisions.
It should be recalled that the Transfiguration Monastery in Kniazhychi has become one of many monasteries subjected to pressure from local authorities through the use of “inventory” procedures and the revision of lease agreements.
Earlier, the UOJ reported on how the OCU uses seized churches.
