Amsterdam: Facts of persecution of UOC are documented in a 250-page report

Robert Amsterdam. Photo: screenshot from twitter.com

On April 3, 2024, American lawyer representing the UOC, Robert Amsterdam, published a video on his network X, once again, in the "strongest possible terms", urged the government "to drop consideration" of bill No. 8371 from the agenda and announced that he would hand over another package of documents to representatives of the Ukrainian government.

In his speech, Amsterdam quoted a statement from the DECR UOC dated March 28 regarding the position of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church regarding the Decree of the WRPC on the "Russian world". He said he would attach it to the documentation he would be handing over to representatives of the Ukrainian government.

The lawyer urged the Ukrainian authorities "to move forward and unify the people, to go back to the rule of law," adding that "collective punishment has no place in a free and democratic society."

"That bill, calling for the destruction of this Church, is nothing more than dressed-up hate speech," he said. 

The lawyer also noted that "attacking folllowers of Jesus Christ during the times of war, forcing followers out of their churches, denying people a place to worship is absolutely unforgivable. And the fact that this is now the policy of the Ukrainian government cannot be sanctioned or supported."

Robert Amsterdam stated that he receives questions about evidence of such persecution of clergy and believers of the UOC. In this respect, the human rights defender noted that he had prepared a report on numerous facts of attacks on churches, including attacks on the Lavra and the seminary. This is 250 pages of evidence describing the situation of violations of the rights of UOC believers in Ukraine in just a few months.

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RISU was founded by the Ukrainian Catholic University under the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.