Court extends arrest of Metropolitan Arseny of Svyatogorsk for another 60 days

On December 6, 2025, the Chechelovsky District Court of the city of Dnipro extended the period of detention of Metropolitan Arseniy of Sviatogorsk, vicar of the Sviatogorsk Lavra, for another 60 days, until February 3, 2026. This decision was made against the backdrop of numerous procedural violations, including the non-admission of lawyers and the people’s elected representative, as well as ignoring the statements of nine deputies of the Verkhovna Rada on the readiness to take the vicar on bail or bail. According to Telegram-channel «Svyatogorskaya Lavra», the defense is preparing an appeal.

The session, at which the issue of the measure of restraint for the bishop was decided, continued on Saturday, December 6, 2025. From the very beginning of the trial there were difficulties for the faithful who came to support Metropolitan Arseny. At first they were not allowed into the courthouse, referring to the day off. Only after the intervention of the judge they were allowed to enter, but the number of listeners was limited by the number of seats in the courtroom.

In addition, the lawyers of the UOC hierarch, who were ready to participate in the session via videoconference, were not connected to the process. The judge stated that they allegedly did not apply for online participation. Instead of them, a lawyer from the free legal aid system was present in the hall, who, as it turned out during a confidential conversation with Metropolitan Arseniy, was not familiarized with the case materials. She was not aware of the presence of paid defenders, nor of the surety of the deputies, nor of the critical state of health of the bishop. Moreover, the lawyer refused to contact the bishop’s regular defenders and, according to the source, misled the metropolitan, claiming that she would defend him in the court of appeal, although she was involved only in this session.

People’s deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Viktoriya Hryb, who filed a statement of readiness to take Metropolitan Arseniy on bail and is a full participant in the trial, was also not connected to the session via video link. At 10:00, Judge Tetyana Bezruk opened the hearing, omitting the necessary procedural rule of announcing the participants. During the hearing the judge stated that Vladyka Arseniy allegedly contacted his lawyers, to which the bishop pointed out the impossibility of this, as he had no phone, which was confirmed by many witnesses. The judge repeatedly interrupted the Metropolitan, preventing him from expressing his position.

In response to what was happening, Metropolitan Arseny asked to allow his permanent lawyers to participate in the session, but this request was ignored. After that Metropolitan Arseniy challenged the judge. The consideration of the challenge was extremely fast, literally in 15 minutes. Despite the fact that it was a day off, another judge, a clerical worker and the head of the court apparatus were in the courthouse to consider the motion, and the recusal was denied. Back in the hall, Judge Tatyana Bezruk warned the bishop about possible removal from the hall in case of «violations.»

Prosecutor Larisa Dalberg read out her motion, citing the bishop’s allegedly «great connections, authority and material condition» as arguments in favor of continued detention, claiming that he could put pressure on witnesses. Metropolitan Arseny did not admit his guilt and asked to reject the prosecutor’s motion. After an hour and a half in the deliberation room, the court ruled to merge the two criminal cases against Metropolitan Arseny into one proceeding and extended his detention for another 60 days, until February 3, 2026. This decision was made ignoring the petitions of nine Ukrainian MPs, who asked the court to bail the vicar of the Lavra or to determine the amount of bail.

The session ended around 16:00. Currently, the defense is preparing an appeal to overturn the court’s decision.