In the Cherkasy region, a court ordered a community affiliated with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to return a 185-year-old church to the state

The judicial authorities of the Cherkasy region have granted the prosecutor’s office’s request to return the historic building of the Trinity Church, located in the village of Gelmyazov, to state ownership. The 185-year-old church, which was previously under the jurisdiction of a parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), is now to be transferred to the state.

The dispute over ownership arose due to the property’s registration procedure. Previously, the church building had been registered as the private property of a legal entity, with a decision by the Gelmyazov Village Council dated April 22, 2014, cited as the basis for its entry into the registry.

However, according to the Zolotonosha District Prosecutor’s Office, which initiated the proceedings, the aforementioned decision by local authorities lacked legal grounds for transferring ownership of the church to a religious organization. After reviewing the case materials, the court upheld the position of the supervisory authority: the registration of private ownership rights to the religious building was annulled, the corresponding entry in the State Register was closed, and the property was ordered to be returned to the state.

As a reminder, we previously reported that the Economic Court of Cassation in Kyiv would hear a case regarding the ownership of the church of the Odessa Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)— —dedicated to the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God “Znamenie.” The prosecutor’s office insists that the building be recognized as state property, despite the fact that courts of two instances had previously confirmed the religious community’s right of ownership.