(Kyiv)  After more than two-years of legal battles including appeals, Ukraine’s Highest Administrative Court rendered a decision in favor of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy on a claim to legal title related to several historic buildings located on the university’s campus.  At issue were two buildings known as Prosfirna and Bratska Collegiums, as well as the building that once housed the residence of the Father Superior of Bratskyi Monastery.

The first of the buildings in dispute was originally built as the Bratskyj Monastery in 1615 when the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was founded, and the complex was expanded in 1652 to a second building housing monastic cells.  Further improvements and expansion took place sporadically until the early 1800s.  The buildings are designated as historic landmarks. 

Title to the buildings on the historic territory of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was transferred by the government of Ukraine to the university in an official agreement, when the university was re-established in 1991.  On 13 December 2011, Ukraine’s Highest Administrative Court validated the legality of that agreement, ruled that the Academy is entitled to the buildings, and that the premises must be vacated for use by the university.

During Soviet times, the buildings suffered from serious deterioration, but despite their unsafe and unsanitary condition, the facilities were used as a public hospital.  Since 1991, when the title to the buildings was officially transferred to Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, efforts were made to accommodate remaining patients at an adequate clinic, but in spite of the fact that the facilities lacked basic conditions for a safe hospital, its administration refused to vacate the premises and move to another facility.  The hospital succeeded to uphold its position with the support of the Central Management Board of Communal Property.

The university’s position was supported by the the city and the highest national Prosecutor’s Offices.  Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was represented in this case by S.O Syrotkina, head of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy’s legal department, and by Kyiv-Mohyla Law School alumni employed by the Law Firm ITT-Lex, headed by attorney Oksana Markova, also a Kyiv-Mohyla Academy alumna.

Ms. Markova is one of the founders of the Dmytro Maliuchenko Charitable Fund to provide scholarships for needy students of Kyiv-Mohyhla Academy.  Dmytro Maliuchenko, a student at the Academy, died in a tragic accident in 2007.  Ms. Markova also serves as a member of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Board of Trustees. 

Kyiv-Mohyla Academy designated the buildings to be used for the university’s School of Public Health, and the Departments of Environmental Studies and Sociology -  all areas of study that were first established in Ukraine at the Academy.  Plans for renovation will be forthcoming.