Lawyer Amsterdam on the arrests of journalists: SBU raids fuel hostility
American lawyer initiates sanctions against those supporting violations of religious freedom.
Lawyer of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Bob Amsterdam stated that the arrests of Orthodox journalists were coordinated to generate enthusiasm for the recently revised Bill 8371 to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This was reported by the Save the UOC website.
"Based on the information provided by our sources, these raids by the secret police are NOT evidence-based. They have been choreographed by the SBU to stir up fear and animosity and further divide a country at war, and must be condemned by international press freedom organizations," Amsterdam said.
The American lawyer asserts that there is no conceivable pretext making it necessary for Ukraine to ban an entire religion in Ukraine "and erase the thousand-year-old home of Christianity – none whatsoever," he wrote.
According to Amsterdam, this ongoing politically motivated attack against the UOC does no service to Ukraine’s interests and undermines the unity of the population at a critical time.
The press release also stated that the lawyer will file letters before numerous organizations and government bodies urging them to condemn this media crackdown and further to initiate consideration of sanctions against individual members of the Rada engaged in violating religious freedoms, including Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk.
He noted that the Union of Orthodox Journalists represents one of the very few Ukrainian news outlets reporting on the unlawful seizures and raids of church properties by the state church.
As reported by the UOJ, on March 12, 2024, news emerged of searches conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine at the UOJ offices. Later, the SBU published a message stating that it had exposed more than 15 individuals and detained four of them.
