A court in the Cherkasy region ruled to seize the bell tower from the Lebedyn Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

The Commercial Court of the Cherkasy Region ruled in favor of the Zvenyhorod District Prosecutor’s Office, as a result of which the Mykolaiv-Lebedyn Women’s Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been stripped of its ownership rights to the historic bell tower.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the monastery’s title to the cultural heritage site was registered in 2010 with procedural violations and without obtaining the necessary approvals from the authorized bodies. The prosecutor’s office filed a lawsuit seeking to revoke the monastic community’s rights and return the structure to state ownership, a position upheld by the court.

The prosecutor’s office justified the need for the seizure by citing the need to ensure the preservation of this unique 19th-century architectural structure. The bell tower, built in 1839, has the status of an architectural monument of national significance and has been on the state register since 1973. Government officials emphasized that this structure plays a key role in the region’s historical and cultural heritage.

As a reminder, we previously reported that state authorities are continuing to expropriate churches belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This time, the expropriation affected the St. Peter and Paul Church, a monument of national architectural significance located in the village of Moysovka in the Cherkasy region.