Activists in court defend one of Kyiv's lakes from construction shutterstock

Activists in court defend one of Kyiv's lakes from construction

Anna Velyka

They accused two deputies of the Kyiv City Council and the mayor personally of opposing the bequest of the reservoir

Members of the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center (KEСC), together with the prosecutor's office, appealed the decision of the Kyiv City Council to provide 20 hectares on Lake Vyrlytsya in Kyiv for the construction of an entertainment center.

The victory in the case in the Cassation Economic Court, which is part of the Supreme Court, was reported in the KEСC.

According to activists, in 2005, the city council illegally gave the Mriya-Invest company the territory of the lake for development. Therefore, the KEСC and the prosecutor's office sued, but lost in the first instance. They appealed, won it, and now have a positive decision in cassation.

facebook.com/kekz.ua

Part of Lake Vyrlytsia, where the developers wanted to build an entertainment center. Photo: facebook.com/kekz.ua.

The KECC said that about a year ago, together with Kyiv City Council member Yevgenia Kuleba, they wanted to bequeath Lake Vyrlytsia, but they were prevented from doing so by the head of the land commission of the Kyiv City Council "Udarivets" Terentiev and Kyiv City Council member "Udarivets" Lymar. Activists claim that due to the influence of these two elected officials, the deputies of the city council twice failed to vote for the bequest of the lake.

The mayor of the capital, Vitalii Klitschko, was also accused of opposing this vote in KECC, since his school friend and former head of the Klitschko Foundation charitable organization headed the real estate developer Mriya-Invest in 2018-2020.

Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in April 2021, the developers of Lake Vyrlytsia in Kyiv destroyed birds' nests and covered fish spawn. In May 2021 activists held the action "Let's protect Vyrlytsia!", during which the participants tried to dismantle the fence that encloses the territory of illegal construction.

In October 2023, the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal recognized the illegal lease of 19.72 hectares of land near Lake Vyrlytsia in Kyiv, where they planned to build a shopping, entertainment and office center. The court also obliged the tenant Mriya-Invest LLC to vacate the plot and restore it to its original state.

In July, EcoPolitic reported that KECC representatives won the court case against the "Khotivskyi" agricultural complex, which wanted to receive 5.3 hectares of green zone near the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life in Pirogov for development.

Also, activists of the center said about his intention to achieve the closure of the Kyiv utility company "Pleso". They are sure that what was created to protect the water bodies of the capital of the KP, in fact, systematically spoils and destroys them.

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