Amsterdam: If Bill 8371 is well-reasoned, why must they lie about it?

Photo: UOJ

Robert Amsterdam, a lawyer and head of the international human rights firm Amsterdam & Partners LLP, and an advocate for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), questioned why supporters of Bill 8371, which proposes to ban the activities of the UOC, are spreading lies about it if they claim it is a good law. This was stated in a press release published on the https://savetheuoc.com/blog/ website.

According to Amsterdam, although President Zelensky did hold an online meeting with selected members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, the UOC representative was not invited to this meeting. This means that the Council could not have endorsed the controversial bill.

Amsterdam was particularly struck by the statement of Roman Catholic Archbishop Kryvytsky, who claimed that the UOC has never condemned Russian aggression. "I do not know what would be worse: If he was not aware of their statements, or if he was bluntly lying.," Amsterdam added.

He also emphasized that the leadership of the UOC has repeatedly condemned Russia’s war against Ukraine, including on March 27, 2024, when the UOC stated that "calls for the destruction of Ukraine and the justification of a military aggression are inconsistent with the Gospel teaching."

According to Amsterdam, the dissemination of disinformation by President Zelensky is a breach of trust in the lead-up to the promotion of Bill 8371.

"My question to all supporters of Ukraine is why, if they feel that this law is well reasoned and necessary for national security, why must they continue to lie about it? Why are they lying about the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches, why are they twisting statements from the Orthodox leadership in Turkiye?" Amsterdam said. "They cannot truthfully support 8371 based on any factual analysis of this bill – everyone from the United Nations to the Church of England to the Rada’s own legal department has identified very clear violations of international law in this discriminatory bill."

As reported by the UOJ, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO) published a statement on its official website on August 17, 2024, regarding the meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky. In the statement, the UCCRO expressed its support for Zelensky’s legislative initiative to ban the UOC, although the bill was not explicitly named.

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