Amsterdam responds to charges against Bishop Arseniy: "Constructed lies"

Metropolitan Arseniy. Photo: Sviatohirsk Lavra

Robert Amsterdam, an international lawyer representing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), stated in an interview with TRT that Metropolitan Arseniy has been imprisoned for nine months under fabricated charges brought by Ukrainian authorities.

In response to a question about the arrests of UOC clergy allegedly for disclosing Ukrainian military positions or storing weapons for Russians, Amsterdam called these accusations “constructed lies.”

“You know in in Bronx language I would have stronger terms,” he said. “I know exactly the case you’re talking about – Metropolitan Arseniy, a man without a stomach who has been in horrific conditions for nine months in a Ukrainian jail. And do you know what he did? During a sermon, he was angry that the police had stopped parishioners from coming to his church.”

Amsterdam underscored that the hierarch had been in conditions that are beyond horrible for nine months because the government fabricated these charges so they could steal his church.

“It is beyond horrifying what they are doing to priests,” the lawyer added.

As previously reported by the UOJ, Robert Amsterdam has also stated that disturbing the holy relics at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is complete blasphemy.

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