On June 13, 2023, a court hearing was held at the Kyiv City Economic Court on the suit of the Monastery against the Preserve to remove obstacles to the use of the Assumption Cathedral and the Refectory Church with the Refectory Chamber. This was announced by Lavra’s lawyer Nikita Chekman.

As a result of the court session, the Court dismissed the claim, that is, denied the right of the Monastery to use the temples for worship.

“We emphasize that the representatives of the Monastery received a petition to postpone the court session due to participation in other procedural actions that objectively make it impossible to participate in the court session made a decision,” he said.

He added that, thus, the Court did not even give the plaintiff the opportunity at the court session to provide their explanations, ask the defendant a question, take part in debates and prove both to the Court and the public its legal position.

“Could the Court postpone the court session? Undoubtedly, yes, since this is the first session in fact and the first non-appearance of the plaintiff’s side (before that, she had not filed such petitions). This demonstrates the manifestation of administrative pressure on the court also in the context of the reports of the Minister of Culture and Information Policy Ukraine regarding the expectations of the authorities regarding the adoption by the courts of decisions on the return of the Lavra to the state,” the lawyer emphasized.

He assured that the plaintiff’s side, after receiving the full text, would definitely file an appeal against the court’s decision in order to achieve justice and restore the violated rights of parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“We note separately that the monastery will use all available legal opportunities for further judicial protection of its violated rights,” said Nikita Chekman.