At the request of the District Prosecutor's Office of Smila, Cherkasy Region, the court has ordered the Kyiv Metropolia of the UOC-MP to return to state ownership the cultural heritage site of national significance – the (Georgian) Assumption Cathedral dating back to the 12th century.
This was reported by the Prosecutor General's Office.
The Assumption Cathedral is an ancient church from the times of Kyivan Rus, built in 1144 by Prince Vsevolod Olhovych.
It was established that the executive committee of the Kaniv City Council in 2003 granted permission to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to formalize ownership rights to the archaeological monument. Subsequently, this became the basis for registering collective ownership rights.
Prosecutors in court proved the illegality of transferring the building of the Assumption Cathedral. After all, the legislation establishes a direct prohibition on the alienation of cultural heritage sites owned by the state.
The court recognized it as illegal and revoked the decision of the Kaniv City Council executive committee, the certificate of ownership rights to the building in favor of the UOC-MP, and also canceled the state registration of property rights to the cultural heritage site of national significance.
The approximate value of the Assumption Cathedral building is over 8.5 million hryvnias.
Currently, the district prosecutor's office filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine against the executive committee of the Kaniv City Council and the Kyiv Metropolia of the UOC-MP, which the court has satisfied.
The materials for the lawsuit were prepared based on information from the Security Service of Ukraine in the Cherkasy Region.