At the entrance to Feofaniia Park, a fence was torn down and trees were cut because they blocked access to plots owned by judges' families – Bihus.Info – Center for Investigative Journalism

Families of two judges of the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal, Andriy Parinov and Oleksandr Bespalov, acquired land near Feofaniia Park in Kyiv. Soon court cases began over access to the plots, and this summer a barrier and part of the park’s fence were removed.

This is reported in an investigation by Bihus.Info.

Feofaniia is a park and monument of national importance and part of Ukraine’s nature reserve fund, so special rules apply on its territory. In particular, private motor vehicle entry is prohibited. To restrict driving, a barrier was installed at the park entrance, and the territory was surrounded by a metal fence back in 2004 year.

Already in 2005, after the park was created, the Kyiv City Council transferred 30 plots on this lane into private ownership. These are lands on Kilʹtsevyi Lane that remained inside the fence but belonged to the experimental research areas of Feofaniia. The Institute of Evolutionary Ecology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine says their transfer took place without the Presidium of the NAS’s approval.

For about twenty years nothing happened on the privatized land. However, last year the landowners changed. They immediately began litigating over access to their plots and park infrastructure. In particular, they demanded that the city authorities verify the legality of installing the barrier and the metal fence that restricted entry from the Feofaniia side.

In 2 July 2026, the Kyiv District Administrative Court satisfied one of those lawsuits, and already in 14 July the barrier at the Feofaniia entrance was dismantled — even before the court decision took legal effect. In 4 August workers from Kyivblagoustrii also removed the metal fence that marked the park’s boundaries. In addition, the adjacent territory changed: trees were damaged, and a fence for private properties appeared where a pedestrian area once was.

Bihus.Info journalists found that one of the land plots adjacent to the park now belongs to Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal judge Andriy Parinov. He received the land as a gift from his mother, Iryna Parinova, who purchased it in 2025. The plot contains a house and also has a separate entrance directly to Feofaniia Park.

Iryna Parinova herself owns the neighboring plot, which she also bought in 2025. She was one of those who challenged the installation of the barrier and fence around the park in court.

That same year another nearby plot became the property of Yuliia Hanchuk — the sister of the other Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal judge, Oleksandr Bespalov. Parinov and Bespalov have worked for many years at the same court and have repeatedly heard cases as members of the same judicial panels.

In a comment to Bihus.Info, Andriy Parinov denied that his mother was among those who litigated over access to the plots. When the reporter clarified that Iryna Parinova had indeed filed the relevant lawsuit, the judge replied: “Believe me, no.”

At the same time, Parinov emphasized that he supports preserving Feofaniia, but believes the park’s fence was installed in violation of the boundaries:

“The park fence stands on the plot. They mistakenly put the fence not on the boundary lines, but encroached on private plots. They were off by meters — by 50.”

Judge Oleksandr Bespalov at first insisted he did not understand what was being discussed, but later admitted:

“As far as I know about the barrier. Well, generally about the situation. Well, Parinov told me about it, yes. The park has intruded very far. There are some other neighbors on those plots. So there were lawsuits. And there is no access to my sister’s plot at all — the access was installed illegally. Hence the lawsuit. Hence the court decision.”

It is worth noting that the driving restrictions in the park are not merely internal rules of the administration. Due to Feofaniia’s special status, the regime for its territory is fixed by an order of the Ministry of Ecology.

Previously, Bihus.Info also reported another story about driving through Feofaniia: the reserve park territory was used as the shortest route to the estate of Yurii Kosiuk, owner of Nasha Ryaba.