Amsterdam: MPs want to force Ukrainians to accept OCU as the state church
According to the lawyer of the UOC, the bill banning the Church is illegal under international law and the Constitution of Ukraine.
Robert Amsterdam, head of the international human rights company Amsterdam & Partners LLP, who is a lawyer for the UOC, in response to criticism from MPs of his activities, stated that the duty of a lawyer is to clearly and unequivocally express a warning about predatory and discriminatory legislation against the UOC. He reported this in a comment to Strana.ua.
According to the lawyer, the bill in the version for consideration in the second reading is clearly aimed not only at destroying the UOC, but also at abolishing fundamental principles of law and coercing the people of Ukraine to essentially accept the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as the state church.
As the UOJ reported, lawyer and Archpriest Nikita Chekman disclosed information from the indictment to one of the detained Orthodox journalists and human rights defenders on March 12 – Archpriest Sergiy Chertilin about the fact that the OCU, according to the prosecution, is an "attribute of statehood".
