UOC international lawyer: believers between two fires of war

International lawyer of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Robert Amsterdam emphasized that the faithful and clergy of the UOC found themselves in an extremely dangerous position.

UOC parishioners are risking their lives on the front lines, while their priests are being tortured and attacked by the authorities.

Amsterdam wrote about this on his Twitter, highlighting the difficult situation the UOC is in and the need for international protection of its rights and freedoms.

«Let me be clear: what we are doing in advocating in defense of the UOC has nothing to do with promoting the interests of Russia or its illegal war. UOC members are shot at the front lines, they are risking their lives, their priests are attacked, bombed, and tortured from both sides of the conflict,» the lawyer stated.

Recall that Robert Amsterdam, head of the international human rights firm «Amsterdam & Partners LLP,» who represents the legal interests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, criticized the intrusion of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture’s commission into the caves of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to conduct «examination» of the relics of the revered saints of Kyiv-Pechersk. The lawyer called what was happening a planned and state-sponsored act of desecration of sacred sites.