Five Minutes of the Court’s Consideration Dedicated to the Issue of Returning Valuable Lands of the Kitaev Archaeological Complex to the State

06.04.2024

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On Wednesday, April 3, the first hearing took place at the Northern Appellate Economic Court of Kyiv, where the issue of returning control over part of the lands of the archaeological monument of national significance “Kitaev Archaeological Complex” to state ownership is being considered. More than 40 Kyiv residents, specialists from various fields, and student archaeologists came to the meeting. However, the judges did not start considering the case on the merits.

This is reported by the UA.News.

At the beginning of the consideration of the case No. 910/14550/23 by the panel of judges under the chairmanship of Judge Shaptala E.Yu., it was announced about the replacement of a member of the panel of judges. In connection with the fact that the new judge needs to familiarize himself with several volumes of the case, the court announced a break until May 21, 2024.

Currently, the Northern Appellate Economic Court has begun considering the case regarding the land plot 8000000000:79:090:0001 with an area of 21.5472 hectares. Previously, the Office of the Prosecutor General and
the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine lost a lawsuit to return control over part of the lands of the archaeological monument of national significance “Kitaev Archaeological Complex” to state ownership, which they plan to build up with residential complexes.

Also in the Northern Appellate Economic Court is case 910/14549/23 on another land plot of especially valuable lands No. 8000000000:79:089:0003 with an area of 4.7647 hectares.

The prosecutor’s office lost both cases in the first instance. The KSCA lawyer supports the decision to lease the lands of the archaeological monument of national significance, reporting in the court of first instance that at the time of the allocation of these plots for economic activity in the Kyiv City Council there were no documents on the protection of these lands by the state. In turn, the lawyer of the Kyiv City Military Administration supports the claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office to return the plots under state control.

«The claims made by the prosecutor to declare the lease agreement for a land plot of 4.7647 hectares with cadastral number 8000000000:79:089:0003, concluded between the defendants, invalid, actually boil down to his disagreement with the decision of the Economic Court of the city of Kyiv dated June 19, 2008 in case No. 4/260, which entered into legal force. The procedure for reviewing court decisions of economic courts is established by Section IV of the Economic Code of Ukraine. The prosecutor’s arguments on this issue are actually reduced to an attempt to review the decision of the Economic Court of the city of Kyiv dated June 19, 2008 in case No. 4/260 in a manner not provided for by the current economic procedural legislation. Therefore, the claim in this part is also not subject to satisfaction», — said in the decision of the court of first instance, which will be appealed by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine.

The essence of the issue

The lawsuit of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine against the Kyiv City Council concerns a land plot in the Kitaev historical district of Kyiv with cadastral number
8000000000:79:089:0003. The area of the plot is 4.7647 hectares and this is only part of the Archaeological Reserve: «Kitaevo within the city and three kurgan burial grounds», where the remains of the city, the remains of an ancient Russian fortress, a kurgan burial ground and a settlement are located, the lands with which were leased by the deputies of the Kyiv City Council. For the part leased to entrepreneurs by a decision of the Kyiv
City Council 17 years ago, the purpose of the land plot was changed: «for the construction of residential and public buildings, shopping and entertainment centers, office centers and parking».

At the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office in the interests of the citizens of Ukraine, a lawsuit was filed
to return to state ownership (ownership of the entire Ukrainian people) land plots on which the archaeological monument of national significance is located. For the purpose of preserving valuable historical, archaeological and cultural heritage in the interests of present and future generations, in order to protect against the possible development of especially valuable lands of historical and cultural purpose.

«The settlement, which is the subject of protection in this lawsuit, is a village where the dwellings of the inhabitants were located. It is located at the foot of the hillfort on the left bank of the stream and occupies the northwestern part of the monument. We are talking about an ancient Russian city that played an important role in the defense of Kievan Rus», – the prosecutor said in his speech.

He added that the presence of an ancient Russian city here is confirmed by scientific research that has been conducted in this area since 1854:

1895 – the site was marked on the archaeological map of the Kyiv province. 1911-1914 – the site was investigated by archaeologist O.D. Ertel, whose research in 1914 resulted in the military and archaeological plan of the Kitaivske settlement and the surrounding area.
1947 – archaeologists discovered the first dwelling within the settlement.
1961 – archaeologist N. Linka (Great Kyiv expedition) explored the mounds.
1973 – a study was carried out, which became the basis for the production of a passport, on the basis of which the monument was registered with the state. That year, archaeologist Ihor Movchan investigated the settlement in detail and localised it on the ground. «The settlement stretches 700-800 metres along the stream, and 150-200 metres uphill from the stream. The area of the settlement is more than 15 hectares», – Movchan’s report says.
1988 – archaeologists Movchan and Pysarenko investigated the settlement and burial ground.
1998 – archaeologists Movchan and Klymovskyi investigated the hillfort and burial ground.
2013, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022 – archaeologists Kozyuba, Ivakin, Serov, Pereverzen, Zotsenko, Baranov
conducted research on various parts of the site. During the research, they found ceramics of the X-XII centuries, metal products, fragments of bracelets and remains of an ancient dwelling.