Activists win appeal against developer in Protasov Yar case in Kyiv
24 March 21:55
The Northern Commercial Court of Appeal in Kyiv held a final hearing on the appeal filed by the Kyiv City Council and the Protect Protasiv Yar NGO against the developer. The decision was made in favor of the activists.
This is evidenced by the broadcast of the court session, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
Thus, the court decided to close the proceedings on the claim of the developer Protasiv Yar LLC for partial cancellation of the decision of the Kyiv City Council to create a landscape reserve named after Roman Ratushny.
“This decision leaves the reserve safe, although the developer is likely to appeal and re-appeal this decision, citing the Supreme Court’s practice regarding parks,” said Olha Veretilnyk, a lawyer and representative of the Kyiv City Council, in a comment to ZMINA.
At the last meeting, Anton Dykan, a lawyer for the Protasiv Yar NGO, explained that Protasiv Yar LLC owns 16 of the 20 hectares of the territory where the Kyiv City Council decided to create a nature reserve in 2022. Therefore, they filed a lawsuit to partially cancel this decision.
According to Dykan, the developer plans to build dense development on the site of the reserve, which will destroy the park. That is why the NGO and Kyiv City Council asked to close the proceedings on the developer’s counterclaims.
The developer itself believes that it is the owner of the land plots that were allegedly included in the reserve in violation of the law. Its representative said that the company was not against the creation of the protected area, but that it was the legality of the procedure that was questioned.
What is known about the construction of Protasov Yar?
Back in 2007, under the leadership of former Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky, the Kyiv City Council transferred Protasiv Yar to the territory of residential and public development. A Dnipro-based company, Daytona Group LLC, started building there and subleased the land.
Roman Ratushnyi, a civic activist and defender of Protasiv Yar, claimed that businessman Hennadiy Korban was involved in the development company. Ratushnyi also claimed threats, including from Korban. He denied any involvement in the construction.
on July 28, 2020, the Kyiv City Council returned Protasov Yar to the status of a public green space, and recognized its previous decisions as not meeting the interests of the Kyiv community.
In November 2020, the Daytona Group filed a lawsuit demanding that the city authorities’ decision be canceled and their actions declared unlawful.
The company argued that the local government could not reverse its previous decision because it had already been implemented and had given rise to legal consequences in the form of the right to use the land plot.
Although the Kyiv District Administrative Court upheld the claim in April 2021, in September the Court of Appeal overturned this decision and issued a new one dismissing the administrative claim. In early January 2022, the Supreme Court also sided with the Kyiv City Council.
After the outbreak of full-scale war, Ratushnyi volunteered for the army, and in June 2022, he was killed in the battles for Izyum. During his farewell to Roman, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko promised to keep Protasiv Yar a green zone.
on July 14 of that year, the Kyiv City Council supported the creation of the Protasiv Yar landscape reserve, which was named after the deceased activist.
