Court refuses to move Metropolitan Arseniy's case from frontline Slavyansk

The appeals court in Dnipro rejected the defense’s request to move the trial of the vicar of Sviatogorsk Lavra, Metropolitan Arseniy, from the Slavyansk court to a safer location. Despite arguments about the city’s proximity to the war zone, the court left the case in the former jurisdiction, scheduling the next hearing for late October.

According to the Telegram channel of the UOC, at the meeting on October 8, 2025, the lawyers of the Metropolitan insisted that holding the trial in Slavyansk makes it impossible to ensure personal participation of their client and direct examination of witnesses. The prosecutor, in turn, objected, pointing to the possibility of familiarizing with the case materials online.

The defense parried this argument, stressing that Metropolitan Arseniy is kept in Dnipro pre-trial detention center and does not have access to technical means. According to the defense lawyers, this violates his fundamental right to familiarize himself with the case materials. Nevertheless, the court did not take these arguments into account and denied the petition.

The next court hearing on the case of the Vicar of Sviatogorsk Lavra is scheduled for October 29 in Slavyansk. It is important to note that Metropolitan Arseny is in custody since April 2024, and the term of the previously elected preventive measure expired on September 29, 2025, and the decision on its extension has not yet been made.

Recall, earlier it was reported that the state of health of Metropolitan Arseny, vicar of the Holy Assumption Svyatogorsk Lavra, who has been in pre-trial detention since April 2024, has deteriorated sharply. Doctors insist on the need for urgent heart surgery. This is happening against the background of the ongoing trial, which, according to the defense, is accompanied by procedural violations and ignoring the state of health of the hierarch.