Lawmakers stand surety for activists charged with arson attack on chapel illegally built in downtown Kyiv

The Kyiv-based appeals court has overturned the decision of the Shevchenkivskyi district court of Kyiv to place in pre-trial detention Oleksandr Horban, an architect who allegedly attempted to set on fire a metal door of the chapel illegally constructed by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate over the ruins of the Church of the Tithes in the heart of the Ukrainian capital city.

As reported by a correspondent for Censor.NET, the court released Horban from pre-trial custody as People's Deputies Andrii Levus, Pavlo Kyshkar, Oleh Petrenko, Oleh Barna, Ihor Lutsenko, and Oksana Korchynska had stood surety for him.

Horban was also obliged to hand over his travel passports.

A similar decision was taken by the appeals court regarding another defendant in the case Oleksii Shemotiuk.

Read more: Kyiv authorities issue papers authorizing soonest removal of illegal constructions near ruins of the Church of the Tithes

On Jan. 27, the Shevchenkivskyi district court of Kyiv imposed a two-month pre-trial detention with an option to post 2.2 million hryvnia in bail on Shemotiuk and Horban charged with alleged attempt to burn down the so called “Monastery of the Tithes” illegally built by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate.