A court in Lviv lifted the ban on individual monuments at the Heroes' Pantheon in Ternopil.

On Tuesday, December 3, a hearing took place at the Eighth Appeals Court of the Lviv region regarding the lawsuit filed by the Stadnyk family from Ternopil. The initial court did not permit them to establish an individual monument at their son’s grave in the Pantheon of Heroes in Ternopil. Additionally, the relatives of two other soldiers who lost their lives in the war – Vasyl Hinda and Nadiya Bashnyanyn – also joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs. This was announced on the court's website.

The court in Lviv declared the first-instance ruling unlawful and invalid, as reported by journalist and military serviceman Vakhtang Kipiani on Facebook. It should be noted that the document has not yet been published in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.

According to the materials of the case, this concerns the decision of the Ternopil District Administrative Court dated July 22, 2024. Additionally, several similar court cases are being heard concurrently. In October, the Ternopil City District Court denied the Stadnyk family’s request to establish an individual monument.

The ruling of the appeals court implies that a provision of the regulation concerning the provision of funeral services at the military cemetery "Pantheon of Heroes of Ternopil," which prohibits the independent installation of any other grave structures on the Pantheon grounds, except for those specified in the Regulation, must be annulled.

Judge Svitlana Shevchuk justified the decision by stating, as reported by Suspilne Ternopil, that at the time of Vitaliy Stadnyk's burial, there were no prohibitions on the establishment of individual monuments. After the Ternopil City Council adopted the regulation on burial procedures at the Pantheon of Heroes and imposed a ban on other monuments, it was, in the court's opinion, required to offer compensation to the families of those who were buried there earlier.

Over 240 residents of Ternopil are buried at the Pantheon of Heroes. Maltese crosses made of sandstone, featuring photos of the fallen defenders, are installed at their graves. In October 2023, Maria and Oleg Stadnyk decided to establish an individual monument at their son Vitaliy's grave, leading to an ongoing controversy.

“Ultimately, they have the right. Literally five meters from the pantheon, there is a free plot of land. There, they can install a figure or something else. No, they don’t want that. They want to overturn a collective decision made in the interests of all the fallen,” wrote Vakhtang Kipiani.

He added that the case is not yet concluded, as other court proceedings are ongoing.

Vitaliy Stadnyk was the son of judges Maria and Oleg Stadnyk, a prosecutor, and a sailor in the Navy who died on October 1, 2022, during battles in the Kherson region. He is buried at the Pantheon of Heroes in Ternopil. In the summer of 2023, the Ternopil City Council allocated 14 million UAH for the arrangement of military burials and identical monuments for all fallen soldiers. Maria and Oleg Stadnyk disagreed with the decision regarding a unified cemetery.