Human rights activist: US politicians address violated UOC believers’ rights

Head of the human rights organization Public Advocacy Oleg Denisov. Photo: pravua.info

Persecutions of the UOC by the authorities of Ukraine have become a topic of discussion in U.S. political circles. This was stated by human rights activist Oleg Denisov, the head of the Public Advocacy organization, which has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

According to Denisov, violations of the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church believers have received considerable attention in the United States due to the campaign in defense of the UOC initiated by the well-known lawyer Robert Amsterdam. In particular, the interview he gave to journalist Tucker Carlson caused a serious resonance.

"After this interview took place, we see that there is a reaction from representatives of the U.S. Republican Party, who are already discussing the UOC in their internal deliberations," said the human rights activist.

He noted that Robert Amsterdam "has a broad network of contacts with his colleagues, with officials, within which documents like 'white books,' bulletins on human rights violations can be distributed, and all this information is already beginning to circulate."

Denisov pointed out that "heavy cases" of discrimination against the UOC that the authorities quickly shape are coming into the view of American politicians and diplomats.

"These are easily provable human rights violations; these are such glaring criminal cases, as in the case of Metropolitan Feodosiy, where it is clearly seen that the case is groundlessly opened, and an international lawyer just needs to take this case and inform about it," said Oleg Denisov. "Similarly, the law banning the UOC, the law renaming it, decisions on the expropriation of land plots under already-built temples. All these are very glaring violations, and they are very easy to prove. No court process is needed to make it clear to U.S. politicians that if a temple is built, if land was once allocated for it, then this land cannot be taken away. This immediately raises the question, 'how can this be?'"

The human rights activist emphasized that systematic persecutions of the UOC can negatively impact Ukraine's international image, and Ukrainian authorities could be accused of discrimination and human rights violations.

"Therefore, Ukraine's state policy should be to refrain from violations against the UOC believers, leave them alone, and generally remove this case from the political mainstream and deal with other topics that are more relevant and important. The religious issue should not be politicized. When politicians and the state enter this system and try to regulate something there, nothing but problems arises," concluded Oleg Denisov.

As reported by the UOJ, the interview of U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson with lawyer Robert Amsterdam, discussing persecutions against the UOC, was viewed by over 103 million people in 5 days.

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