Court in Dnipro restricts Metropolitan Arseniy's time to familiarize himself with materials of new case

The Cathedral District Court of the city of Dnipro has decided to significantly reduce the time limit for familiarization with the materials of the second criminal case against the abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, Metropolitan Arseny, and his lawyers. The meeting was held with a number of procedural violations, and the hierarch’s defense regards this decision as an attempt to prevent him from appealing his detention.

According to the official website of the Sviatogorsk Lavra, the meeting took place on November 25, 2025. Metropolitan Arseny was not brought to the courtroom from the pre-trial detention center due to his poor health condition, but he was also not given the opportunity to join the hearing via video link. In addition, some lawyers who are outside of Dnipro were unable to participate in the hearing. Believers came to the court building to support the hierarch.

Despite the absence of the accused and some of his defense lawyers, Judge Olga Konoplenko began the hearing. The defense filed a motion to disqualify her, but, according to the source, this motion, as well as the air raid alert that sounded, were ignored. As a result, the judge granted the prosecutor’s motion and limited the period of familiarization with the case file, which includes more than 280 pages of text and a number of audio and video recordings, until November 28, 2025. Initially, the court set the date for December 10.

According to the defense, such actions are aimed at making it impossible to prepare for the consideration of appeals against the detention of Metropolitan Arseny, scheduled for December 2. The lawyers note that the hearings in the Court of Appeal have already been canceled twice due to delays in the transfer of case files by the Cathedral Court. The defense lawyers claim that the investigating judges are biased, pointing out that the prosecution’s motions are considered promptly, while the defense’s statements are delayed.

Earlier, we reported that journalist Yaroslava Mishchenko, who is associated with the leadership of the OCU, made harsh statements against Metropolitan Arseniy of Sviatohirsk (UOC), declaring his «colossal guilt before Ukraine.» Samokhvalova believes that Metropolitan Arseniy, through his suffering in the pre-trial detention center, is helping to create an information pretext for criticizing the Ukrainian government and the OCU.