Roman Orekhov, the lawyer of Stepan Bandera, the grandson of the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-UPA), who was also named Stepan Bandera, has said Bandera would return his grandfather's medal voluntarily only under a ruling on an appeal of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine.
"The decorations are property. I, as a lawyer, would advise him not to return anything voluntarily until the Supreme Court issues such a ruling. To make him return the medal, a respective ruling of a respective national court under the civil procedure on a lawsuit by the presidential administration of Ukraine is needed," Orekhov told reporters after a hearing at the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine on Tuesday.
The lawyer stressed that Bandera’s side intends to appeal to the Supreme Court against the ruling.
As reported, on August 2, 2011 the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine upheld a ruling of Donetsk Circuit Court dated April 2, 2010 and a ruling of Donetsk Administrative Court of Appeals dated June 23, 2010 that declared illegal an order of Third Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko dated January 20, 2010 conferring the Hero of Ukraine title to the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-UPA), Stepan Bandera.
