Court extends detention of Metropolitan Arseniy for another two months

Metropolitan Arseniy. Photo: svlavra.church.ua

On August 1, 2025, another preparatory court session was held at the Slovyansk City District Court of the Donetsk region regarding the case of Metropolitan Arseniy. According to the press service of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, the judge extended the arrest of the archbishop for 60 days – until September 29.

The UOC hierarch was held in a pre-trial detention center for more than a week without any legal grounds. As the defense pointed out, the validity of the decree on which the bishop was detained expired on July 22.

“According to Ukrainian legislation, detaining a person without a valid court order is inadmissible, except in cases of arrest at the scene of a crime or immediately after it. From July 22 to August 1, no official detentions of Metropolitan Arseniy took place,” the statement said.

The lawyers repeatedly submitted petitions to the investigative judge of the Chechelivskyi District Court of the city of Dnipro, under whose jurisdiction the Dnipro pre-trial detention center is found, for the release of the archbishop. However, these petitions remain unconsidered to this day.

On August 1, at the prosecutor's request, the court extended the arrest of Metropolitan Arseniy for 60 days, until September 29, 2025, inclusive, without the possibility of bail.

The court's ruling also denied all petitions from the defense, including the request to change the preventive measure to personal surety by ten members of the Ukrainian parliament; the application of bail; and other alternative preventive measures.

The lawyers are preparing an appeal to the Dnipro Court of Appeal.

The consideration of the lawyers' petition to the investigative judge of the Chechelivskyi District Court of Dnipro for the release of Bishop Arseniy from custody is scheduled for August 4 at 14:30.

The next session of the Slovyansk City District Court regarding the case of Metropolitan Arseniy will take place on September 10 at 13:00.

Recall, Bishop Arseniy has been in the Dnipro pre-trial detention center since April 25, 2024. The defense continues the legal struggle for the release of the metropolitan and requests prayers from believers for the detained archbishop.

You can also support the Lavra in further legal defense of the monastery's abbot by making a donation.

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