The Zakarpattia District Administrative Court (ZDAC) has denied the international charitable human rights organization Ecology-Law-Human Rights (EPL) a claim for interim relief in the case of the construction of a wind farm in the Runa valley.
This was reported by its members on the organization's official Facebook page.
The EPL said that while the case on the invalidation and cancellation of the decision of the Turye-Remety village council to approve the detailed plan of the Polonyna Runa tract is still being considered by the ZDAC, the project investor (developer), Turiansky Wind Park LLC, is already building a wind farm together with its partner company, Turiansky Wind Park-1 LLC, and has poured foundations for two wind turbines in the Runa meadow.
According to human rights activists, the Turye-Remety village council has already issued 4 urban planning conditions and restrictions (URC) in favor of Runa-1 Wind Park LLC for the construction of foundations for the wind turbines. Also, 4 notifications of the start of construction work have been registered and sites for their installation have been prepared.
The EPL emphasized that construction and issuance of permits is taking place even though the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure has not yet been completed, and criminal proceedings have been opened on the facts of illegal deforestation within the Shipot forestry to build a road to the wind farm in the meadow.
On April 28, 2025, EPL filed an application for interim relief with the ZDAC. In it, human rights activists asked to temporarily prohibit the Turye-Remety village council from issuing new urban planning conditions and restrictions based on the disputed detailed territory plan (DTP) until the merits of the case are considered and a decision is made.
According to human rights activists, interim relief is necessary to prevent irreversible damage to the environment. EPL believes that there is a real threat that the construction of the wind farm may be completed before the end of the trial.
“In this case, the court's decision on the legality (or illegality) of the disputed DPT will lose its practical significance and turn into a formality,” the lawyers explained.
According to EPL human rights activists, despite the real risks to the environment and violations by the investor and the village council, on April 29, 2025, the ZOAC ruled to refuse to take interim measures. In it, the court noted that the arguments provided by the plaintiff allegedly did not prove that failure to take interim measures would significantly complicate or make it impossible to enforce the court decision or effectively protect or restore the plaintiff's violated or disputed rights and interests.
“The most disturbing thing is that the court ruling does not contain any environmental risk assessment at all. The court completely ignores the environment as an object of legal protection, which is contrary to the public interest, environmental legislation and Ukraine's international obligations,” EPL noted.
Human rights activists believe that in this matter, the court demonstrates a refusal to fulfill one of its key functions – to ensure effective protection of rights and prevent irreparable harm when “such harm is obvious, documented and has already begun.”
EPL and its partners promised to continue legal protection of the Runa valley as a unique natural space.
EcoPolitic first reported that wind power companies had excavated the Runa mountain meadow in Zakarpattia in May 2023. Back then, the State Ecological Inspectorate reported that the wind energy company did not have any permits for this.
Later, all the events surrounding the construction of the wind farm in this meadow were accompanied by scandals. For example, on February 6, 2024, we reported that in the Turya-Remeta community in Zakarpattia, public hearings on the project “Detailed Plan of the Polonyna Runa tract” on the construction of a wind farm were disrupted, according to activists. On May 23, 14 deputies of the Turye-Remety village council voted to grant permission to build wind turbines in the Runa meadow, despite having been denied twice before.
