The decision of a civil court in Kyiv to cancel land allocation for the Bionic Hill innovation park, represented by the international law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel, is not legal under Ukrainian law, and it being implement will cost the state dearly, the firm’s partner and head of real estate law Oleksiy Feliv, has said.

"We value our reputation and we would not have agreed to protect the interests of a client if we were not sure that the decision of the economic court in Kyiv of October 22, 2014 is illegal," he said in an interview with the Comments weekly.

He said that this is unacceptable for civilized jurisdictions to allow state cancellation of ownership rights years after a property has been acquired, by reversing court rulings and seizing property belonging to investors.

He said that the question at the heart of the dispute is as follows: did the Kyiv City Council have the right to seize the land for the city, despite the investors previously being confirmed as owning it?

He added that the return of the land to the state, as the Prosecutor General wants, will result in investment totaling $16 million being returned from the Ministry of Defence. This money was invested in order to construct new apartments for military servicemen and their families, moved from a military town previously located on the aforementioned land.

He added that Bionic Hill has a right to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).