On 25 February 2026 the Chechelivskyi District Court of Dnipro, at a preparatory hearing in case No. 243/4706/24 (the charges are under Articles 114-2 and 436-2 of the Criminal Code), refused the motion by Metropolitan Arseniy’s defence to return the indictments to the prosecutor and set the trial for 5 March 2026 at 11:30.
It replaced custody with round-the-clock house arrest without an electronic monitoring device to 25 April 2026 inclusive, and ordered the accused released from custody immediately, in the courtroom; Suspilne Donbas reported that this was done. Under the ruling, he may not leave his dwelling at any hour except to go to a shelter during an air-raid alert or to receive medical care.
The dwelling he may not leave is, Suspilne Donbas reported, in the Kyiv region, while the Svyatogirsk Holy Dormition Lavra, which Metropolitan Arseniy heads, stands in Svyatohirsk in the Donetsk region.
The court said the risk of absconding had decreased over time, taking into account the length of the proceedings and of custody, a statement by the owner of the dwelling and a letter from a Kyiv clinic saying it was ready to admit the accused for examination and treatment. According to the ruling, the risks of influencing witnesses, obstructing the proceedings in another way and committing a new offence had not disappeared, but the court found house arrest sufficient; it refused the applications of a lawyer and two people’s deputies for personal surety.
The defence asked for the indictments to be returned, citing a breach of the right to defence and flaws in the indictments; the court said it checks an indictment only against Article 291 of the Criminal Procedure Code, that setting out the charge is for the prosecutor, and that the defence’s arguments go to the merits. Suspilne Donbas reported that the prosecutors objected to this and to the defence’s two other motions, to change the measure and to obtain evidence; the court granted both and requested from the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office and the Office of the Prosecutor General an extract from the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations. The ruling states that it cannot be appealed.
Sources: Unified State Register of Court Decisions: ruling of 25 February 2026, full text (drawn up 2 March); same register: operative part; Suspilne Donbas, 25 February 2026; Suspilne Donbas, 26 February 2026.
