Robert Amsterdam condemned the law banning the UOC, calling it the first of its kind since the 1940s

International human rights activist and lawyer of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) Robert Amsterdam has strongly criticized the policy of the Ukrainian authorities aimed at liquidating the religious organization. In his opinion, Kiev’s actions are dictated by the desire to establish full control over independent thinking and turn religion into a state-controlled department.

Amsterdam published a video message in his X account, in which he called the adopted law banning the church «the first bill banning religion in Europe since the 40s.» The lawyer emphasized that the true reasons for the persecution lie not in the plane of national security, but in the desire of the authorities to suppress any internal freedom. He described the UOC as an organization with a thousand-year history that is «the mouthpiece of the Ukrainian people,» as opposed to the PCU, which he described as a «state church» subordinate to the presidential administration.

In his statement, the lawyer also addressed the international aspect of the situation. Amsterdam said that the London Magistrates’ Court recently rejected Ukraine’s request for the extradition of MP Artem Dmytruk, who spoke in the Verkhovna Rada in defense of the rights of the UOC believers. In addition, the human rights activist expressed disappointment with the position of representatives of the US Democratic Party, noting that they ignore the facts of religious intolerance in Ukraine and refuse to meet to discuss the suffering of believers.

We will remind, earlier we reported that the lawyer Robert Amsterdam published an article in which he sharply criticized the UK government for ignoring the facts of religious persecution in Ukraine. He accused London of «shameful silence» against the background of massive violations of the rights of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), in particular confiscations of churches, politically motivated arrests of clergy and legislative initiatives such as draft law No 3894 aimed at banning the Church.