“Why were 1500 churches taken away from the UOC and transferred to this new state church?” - Amsterdam

Robert Amsterdam, chairman of the international human rights law firm Amsterdam & Partners LLP, representing the legal interests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, during his speech at the International Religious Freedom Summit (IRFSummit2025) held in Washington, D.C., drew attention to the arrests of the hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the seizure of UOC churches in Ukraine. The lawyer added that in all previous years, these violations of the rights and freedoms of citizens were carried out at the expense of the US State Department. The video of the speech was published on the human rights activist’s page on the social network Х.

“The Metropolitan is dying in prison on trumped-up charges (we are talking about Metropolitan Arseny of Sviatohirsk – ed.). Our hearts break when we talk to his family. The same with Metropolitan Theodosius. Why are these unnecessary illegal charges being brought against members of the Church? Why were 1,500 churches taken away from the UOC and transferred to this new state church? A state church that has icons of the Maidan. A state church funded by money from the United States of America?”, – Amsterdam addressed the audience.

Earlier, the spokesman for the OCU, Yevstratiy Zoria, who participated in the Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, said that the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is justified because the existence of the canonical Church in Ukraine threatens “freedom of conscience.”