The Court of Appeal refused the DESS to seize the property of the Kyiv Metropolitan Church of the UOC

On October 22, 2025, the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal rejected the petition of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) to seize the property and bank accounts of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The agency demanded that these interim measures be introduced as part of a lawsuit to stop the activity of the religious organization.

According to the publication of the UOC lawyer Archpriest Nikita Chekman, the State Service for Ethno-Politics and Freedom of Conscience asked the court to prohibit the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the UOC from disposing of its real estate, as well as from carrying out expenditure transactions. The DESS justified its request by the fact that under the conditions of the ongoing military aggression of the Russian Federation, the activities of the organization are allegedly “anti-Ukrainian in nature”. The office argued that the Metropolia’s funds could be used to lobby the interests of the aggressor country and discredit Ukraine in the international arena, referring, in particular, to the activities of the law firm Robert Amsterdam, which, according to the DESS, receives funding from the UOC.

Upon consideration of the application in case No. 855/11/25, the panel of judges of the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal came to the conclusion to reject it. The source calls this decision “lawful and fair”. The author of the publication also criticizes the DESS, stating that the state body “without trial and investigation” accuses the Metropolia of an anti-Ukrainian position and demonstrates disregard for the rights of the UOC believers.

The publication also claims that in its statement, the DESS actually recognized the intention to “confiscate” the church property created with donations from believers. The author draws parallels with the actions of the authorities in the Soviet period and calls not to repeat “the tragic mistakes of the past, which have already led to crushing consequences for the spiritual and cultural life of the Ukrainian people in the twentieth century”.

We shall remind you that earlier we reported that the court hearing on the case of banning the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was again postponed for more than a month. Such a decision of the judges on October 30, the lawyer of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, informed the public.