Supreme Court of Ukraine Confirmed Ownership of Church to Roman Catholics in Dnipropetrovsk

On January 21, 2010, the Board of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Ukraine confirmed that the Roman Catholic parish in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk has full ownership of the Church of St. Joseph.

KYIV-DNIPROPETROVSK — On January 21, 2010, the Board of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Ukraine rejected the cassation of the American corporation Dugsbery and confirmed that the Roman Catholic parish in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk has full ownership of the Church of St. Joseph.  

“Having discussed the arguments of the cassation and having studied the materials of the matter, the judges did not give their consent to the revision of the Resolution of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine of November 26, 2009. The resolution is final and without the right of appeal,” says the resolution of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, reports the press service of the Parish of St. Joseph.   

Therefore, the highest court institution of Ukraine finally specified that the Church of St. Joseph belongs to the Roman Catholic parish of Dnipropetrovsk.

As RISU reported earlier the Roman Catholic community has sought to regain the cathedral for fifteen years. It was built by Roman Catholics in the second half of the 19^th century. It was confiscated by the Soviet regime and used for non-intended purposes.

While Pavlo Lazarenko was in power, the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council secretly sold the church to a Panamanian company that later sold it to Dugsbery Incorporated, which according to the media is associated with Lazarenko as well.