The Supreme Court of Ukraine opened proceedings on the UOC's appeal in the case against the State Ethnopolitics Committee

The Supreme Court of Ukraine has accepted for consideration the appeal of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) against a lower court ruling in a case against the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS). The move moves one of the most high-profile legal proceedings concerning the UOC’s activities to the country’s highest court.

According to the website of the State Service, the proceedings began with a lawsuit filed by the DESS to stop the activity of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the UOC, which is its main administrative center, and to transfer its non-cult property into state ownership. In response, the UOC sought to apply measures to secure the lawsuit in order to temporarily prohibit DESS from sending injunctions to religious organizations within its structure.

Earlier, the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal denied the Church’s request. Not agreeing with this verdict, the Kyiv Metropolitan Church filed an appeal to the Supreme Court, demanding the restoration of its rights and guarantees of a fair trial.

According to the ruling of October 2, 2025, the Supreme Court opened appeal proceedings on the complaint. The Court also ordered DESS to publish on its official website the announcement of the opening of the case, which was executed on October 6, and gave the agency a ten-day deadline to file a response to the appeal. Thus, the case moves to a new stage of consideration.

We will remind, on October 1, in Kiev, the heads and representatives of the churches of the Nordic countries met with the leadership of the State Service of Ukraine on Ethno-politics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS). The head of the State Service complained about the Russian Orthodox Church without mentioning the ban on the UOC initiated by the agency he heads.