Appellate court hearing on Met. Arseny's case takes place in Dnipro

Metropolitan Arseny in court. Photo: Suspilne

The Dnipro Appellate Court considered the defence's complaint regarding the measure of restraint imposed on the abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, Metropolitan Arseny, in the form of 60 days in pre-trial detention without the right to bail, reports Suspilne.

Bishop Arseny was present in court via video. During the hearing, he stated that he did not admit his guilt in disclosing the locations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during his sermons.

"I was told by representatives of the SBU that a police checkpoint was being set up to check the documents of people arriving from other regions. I communicated with representatives of the SBU for these seven months until I was taken into custody. There were no complaints from them," explained Metropolitan Arseniy.

The defence requested that the court release the UOC hierarch to house arrest with a bail of around 60,000 hryvnias, as Metropolitan Arseny is the "leader of a religious organisation not banned today in Ukraine, which is a non-profit organization". In addition, the bishop's lawyer believes that from a legal point of view, the accusation against the metropolitan is not justified, and he stated that he had sent a corresponding request to the Ministry of Defence.

The prosecutor in court stated that Metropolitan Arseny had disseminated information about checkpoints of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which had not been disclosed and were not available in open sources.

"The disclosure of information that he mentions in his sermon, and which is confirmed by a letter from the leadership of the UTC Liman, may pose a threat to the state security of Ukraine," he said.

Around 20 parishioners of the UOC attended the court, supporting the bishop with prayers. They stated that they disagreed with the verdict.

At the end of the session, the judges left the measure of restraint unchanged: detention until 22 June, 2024, without the right to bail.

As reported by the UOJ, on 24 April 2024, employees of the Security Service of Ukraine served the suspicion to Metropolitan Arseny of Sviatohirsk under Part 2 of Article 114-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (dissemination of information about the movement or location of the AFU, where their identification on the ground is possible).

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