Amsterdam to tell US Congress about the results of his trip to Ukraine
The lawyer compared the actions of the SBU against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the methods of the Soviet Union's special services under Stalin.
An American lawyer of the UOC, Robert Amsterdam, has commented on social network X on the results of his visit to Ukraine.
He said he was recording a quick video because "a document circulating around Washington from the Law and Liberty Trust, which is legally completely meaningless, attempts to somehow defend the hate speech contained in Bill 8371, by which Ukraine is trying to pass to ban the UOC."
"Ukraine has very little in the way of religious freedom. I met with many priests and leaders of the UOC, and each of them was interrogated by the secret police, the SBU, which has as its mission to destroy the Church. One of them was interrogated so aggressively that he had a heart attack the same day," the lawyer said, apparently referring to Metropolitan Feodosiy of Cherkasy.
He also spoke about meetings with MPs "who are so frustrated at their lack of freedom that they say their lives are hell. They too were interrogated by the SBU”.
Amsterdam intends to inform members of the US Congress about what he heard in Ukraine to urge them to contact the Rada Speaker Stefanchuk to refer Bill 8371 to the Venice Commission for examination.
The lawyer said Ukrainians need help because their government practices "blind loyalty and dropping their own treasured freedoms, such as media and religion” and “silencing opponents".
"We need to tell them to stop persecuting the UOC. Stop the religious cleansing and, for God's sake, control of the secret police, which reminds me more of Stalin’s Russia than any form of democracy and democratic conduct known to man," Amsterdam concluded.
As earlier reported, the repression against the UOC reminds Robert Amsterdam of the Soviet times.
