Bandera was never a Ukrainian citizen and therefore Yushchenko had no legal grounds to present the award, the plaintiff said. The Donetsk District Administrative Court has received a lawsuit seeking to overturn outgoing Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko's order to award the Hero of Ukraine title to Stepan Bandera.

"The court has today accepted my petition," said the plaintiff, lawyer Volodymyr Olentsevych, the Donetsk-based Ostrov online publication reported.

Olentsevych argues in his lawsuit that the presidential order is illegal because under the Ukrainian law, "Regarding Ukrainian government awards," "the Hero of Ukraine title can only be awarded to Ukrainian nationals."

However, Bandera was never a Ukrainian citizen and therefore Yushchenko had no legal grounds to present the award, the plaintiff said.

It was reported on January 20 that Yushchenko had given the Hero of Ukraine title to Bandera.

In November 2007, Olentsevych tried to sue Yuschenko for the decree awarding the Hero of Ukraine title to leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Roman Shukhevych, but the court rejected the case.