The Chechelivskyi District Court of Dnipro, as Suspilne Donbas and Vilne Radio reported, postponed the hearing of criminal case No. 243/4706/24 against Metropolitan Arseniy on 13 March 2026. Suspilne Donbas, citing the broadcast of the hearing, reported on 14 March that the accused did not appear and that the court scheduled the next session for 26 March. Vilne Radio, relying on the recording of the hearing on the website of the Judiciary of Ukraine, reported a statement by the defence lawyer: the accused had been treated since 11 March, so the lawyer considered it impossible to proceed and asked for the hearing to be postponed. According to Suspilne Donbas, the lawyers spoke of inpatient treatment at one of the Kyiv clinics.
The Svyatogirsk Holy Dormition Lavra, whose superior is Metropolitan Arseniy, said on its website on 18 March 2026 that on that day he had undergone heart surgery at one of the Kyiv clinics. According to the Lavra, after his release from custody on 25 February he had undergone examinations and preparation for the operation; the surgery lasted several hours and ended successfully, and a period of rehabilitation lies ahead.
In a ruling of 25 March 2026 the court considered the defence lawyer’s applications to postpone the proceedings and to allow the accused and the lawyer to take part in hearings by videoconference. Noting that the accused, because of his treatment, cannot come to the court building for the session of 26 March at 13:00, it partly granted the videoconference applications: it ordered that session held by videoconference outside the court premises through the Electronic Court system and allowed the accused to take part using his lawyers’ technical means. It called a request for videoconference at all later sessions premature. The operative part of the ruling contains no decision on postponement; the ruling cannot be appealed separately.
Sources: Unified State Register of Court Decisions: ruling of 25 March 2026 in case No. 243/4706/24; Judiciary of Ukraine: broadcast of the hearing of 13 March 2026 (case No. 243/4706/24); Suspilne Donbas, 14 March 2026; Vilne Radio, 14 March 2026; Svyatogirsk Holy Dormition Lavra, 18 March 2026.
