Supreme Court opens appeal in case of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra against DESS

Court. Photo: istockphoto

The Supreme Court of Ukraine has begun examining the complaint of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra against the ruling of the Appellate Court in the case involving the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), reports DESS, which published the text of the court ruling.

The Sixth Appellate Administrative Court ruled that the Lavra's lawsuit against DESS, seeking to declare the state service's inaction unlawful and to annul its order, must be heard by a different court, namely the Kyiv District Administrative Court. The Lavra disagrees with this and is asking the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling and return its case for consideration to the Sixth Appellate Court.

Previously, DESS officials filed a lawsuit against the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC, demanding its liquidation and the transfer of its property to the state. In response, the Metropolis filed a counter-lawsuit against DESS, and later the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra also joined the proceedings, likewise seeking to challenge the actions of the state service, in particular, its recognition of the Metropolis as connected to the Russian Church.

The Supreme Court has now obliged DESS to publish a notice of the opening of appellate proceedings and given the agency ten days to submit its objections to the Lavra's complaint.

As the UOJ reported, UOC lawyers continue to accept statements from citizens for the defense of the Kyiv Metropolis in court in the DESS lawsuit.

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