The UNBA reported that pressure was being exerted on the UOC's attorney in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra case

The Ukrainian National Bar Association (UNBA) has officially responded to the incident involving psychological pressure exerted on Archpriest Nikita Chekman, a lawyer for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, during a court hearing in the case of the Holy-Assumption Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. The UNAA’s Committee for the Protection of Lawyers’ Rights recognized the actions taken against the lawyer as interference in his professional activities.

As Archpriest Nikita Chekman reported to the incident occurred on August 26, 2026, in the building of the Northern Economic Court of Appeals. Before the start of the hearing in Case No. 910/423/23, a citizen named David Pshenichny publicly accused the attorney of representing the interests of the “Russian Church,” while displaying an object resembling a Russian Federation passport, as others recorded the incident on video.

After reviewing the submitted materials, the UNAA Committee concluded that these actions constitute a form of reputational pressure and interference in the practice of law. The association emphasized that, according to Ukraine’s Law “On the Bar and the Practice of Law,” a lawyer’s professional rights, honor, and dignity are protected by law, and representing a client’s interests does not imply that the lawyer shares the client’s beliefs or status.

In connection with the incident, the case materials will be forwarded to the National Police for review and to initiate a pretrial investigation. Earlier, an investigating judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv had already granted the attorney’s complaint regarding the inaction of law enforcement agencies, ordering that the relevant information be entered into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations to establish all the circumstances of the incident and hold those responsible accountable.