In 2 months, Ukrainian courts have already passed at least 7 decisions requiring prosecutors to make multimillion-dollar deposits to continue consideration of cases on returning illegally built-up forests, coastal protection strips and green areas to the state.
This was reported by activists of the Ukrainian Environmental Protection Group (UPG).
They insist that the draft law No. 12089 “On Amendments to the Civil Code of Ukraine on Strengthening the Protection of the Rights of a Good Faith Purchaser” (after the Verkhovna Rada adopted this law, it was numbered 4292-IX – ed.), instead of protecting good faith purchasers, “actually protects those who carve up forests, nature reserves and coastal strips.”
Members of the OPG compiled a list of 7 court rulings on reclamation of land plots from illegal possession, in which the courts require to provide an expert monetary assessment of these plots and deposit the corresponding amount to the deposit account. This requirement is contained in part 5 of Article 390 of Law No. 4292-IX: “The court shall issue a decision to reclaim real estate from a bona fide purchaser in favor of the state or a territorial community, provided that the state authority, local self-government body or prosecutor has previously deposited the value of such property into the court's deposit account.”
These rulings relate to plots in Kyiv's suburban forests, Bukovel forests, the coastal strip of the Desna River, and green areas of Odesa:
- Forest plots in the Kyiv region near Kozyn.
- Forest plots in the Kyiv region near Khodosivka.
- Forest areas in the Kyiv region near Khodosivka and Novi Bezradychi.
- Areas of the water fund near Pirnovo.
- Forest areas near Bukovel.
- Areas of green areas in Odesa.
- The Tikichsky reserve in Cherkasy region.
According to the activists, in one case, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of a lower court. With this ruling, it legalized the development of forests near the village of Khodosivka in Kyiv region. The judge cited the fact that more than 10 years have passed since the land plot was occupied.
“And every month the scale of the disaster will only grow. For the destruction of nature for construction, you can “thank” not only the MPs who voted for this law, but also public figures and business associations who openly lobbied for it,” the UPG says.
The most shocking case
Petro Testov, Head of the Analytical Department of the UPG, in his telegram channel, spoke in detail about the case that impressed him the most. It concerns three land plots in the green zone near the sea and the center of Odesa.
The conservationist said that since 2008, they have been in court. In 2021, a court ruling seized the land plots. But in 2024, they were re-registered under different cadastral numbers, as a result of which the plots were registered as new objects of real rights in the State Register of Real Property Rights.
After that, they were acquired by a new owner, Vinograd-21 LLC, which now claims to be a “bona fide” purchaser, and therefore the case should be considered under the law on the protection of the rights of a bona fide purchaser.
The Odesa City Council submitted explanations to the court, stating that the new owner could not but know that the land plots were under arrest, so he was not a “bona fide” purchaser.
But the court did not think so.
“Taking into account the provisions of Part 5 of Article 12 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, the commercial court concludes that the good faith of Vinograd-21 LLC is presumed until the contrary is established by the court based on the results of the dispute resolution on the merits. Thus, at present, the bad faith of Vinograd-21 LLC, as alleged by the prosecutor and the plaintiff, is a circumstance that can only be assessed by the court in a court decision,” the decision states.
Now, in order to continue defending the rights of the city community in this case, the prosecutor's office or the city council must deposit an amount equal to the expert monetary valuation of the land plots with the court.
“It's just absurd and a leveling of years of law enforcement work in the interests of developers,” said Testov.
As a reminder, on November 20, 2024, the Parliament voted in the first reading for the draft law No. 12089 on strengthening the protection of the rights of a bona fide purchaser, which was previously criticized by representatives of environmental organizations. On March 12, despite the opposition of activists and the public, 273 MPs supported the bill and passed it.
In less than 2 weeks, a petition to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy asking him to veto the scandalous draft law No. 12089 received more than 25 thousand votes needed for its consideration. However, the head of state responded to it only a month after he signed the draft law.
