In a ruling of 3 November 2025 in case No. 201/13688/25, an investigating judge of the Sobornyi District Court of Dnipro granted the motion of a senior investigator of the Security Service of Ukraine, agreed by a Donetsk regional prosecutor, and applied custody to Metropolitan Arseniy for 38 days, to 10 December 2025, with no bail amount set. According to the ruling, the Metropolitan is suspected under Article 436-2 (parts 1 and 3) of the Criminal Code of denying the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine, and under part 3 of doing so repeatedly; the notice of suspicion in this proceeding, opened on 11 September 2025, was handed to him on 10 October, and the pre-trial investigation period was due to expire on 10 December, hence the 38 days.
As the ruling records, the prosecutor based the motion on five risks, among them that of hiding, since the Svyatogirsk Holy Dormition Lavra, where the suspect’s place of residence is registered, is in dangerous proximity to the fighting. The judge’s own ground for the risk of hiding was the gravity of the offence under part 3, which carries up to eight years’ imprisonment. The defence opposed the motion and asked for bail in case of arrest; the Metropolitan said he does not consider himself guilty and that he had been held in custody for a year and a half in another criminal proceeding. The judge found the suspicion reasonable and the risks proved; the ruling says guilt was not decided and sees no grounds for bail for now.
The court did not accept the personal surety of a people’s deputy and one other person present at the hearing, and left without examination the statements of nine people’s deputies who did not appear: the judge could not establish that they reflected their will. The defence lawyers’ complaint that the detention on 28 October was unlawful was dismissed. The court also ordered the institution where the Metropolitan is to be held to ensure a medical examination and, if needed, urgent treatment, and to report by 20 November.
The prosecutors’ office said in a release of 4 November, published on the website of the Prosecutor General’s Office, that the Metropolitan had been notified of a suspicion under Article 436-2 (parts 1 and 3) and taken into custody again. It added that a trial of the suspect also continues under Article 114-2 (part 2).
Sources: Unified State Register of Court Decisions, case No. 201/13688/25, 3 November 2025; Office of the Prosecutor General, 4 November 2025.
