An international law firm has sharply criticised the Ukrainian government for what it describes as the “illegal imprisonment and torture” of Metropolitan Arseniy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
The UOC, previously linked to the Moscow Patriarchate, declared independence in May 2022 amid the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Despite Metropolitan Arseniy affirming his loyalty to Ukraine, he was arrested in April last year by the Ukrainian secret police, the SBU, after delivering a sermon in which he mentioned the presence of nearby army checkpoints.
Authorities accused him of revealing military positions to the enemy, but his legal team has argued that the checkpoints were unmanned at the time and that no attacks followed his sermon. They claim that action against Arseniy only followed his later criticism of the treatment of the UOC.
Critics say the Ukrainian government has been promoting the state-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) at the expense of the UOC, with reports of priests being arrested, assaulted, and church properties forcibly transferred. Law 3894, passed in August last year, is said to provide a legal basis for banning the UOC. The legislation has been condemned by the World Council of Churches, the Church of England, and even Pope Francis before his death.
Robert Amsterdam, founder and managing partner of Amsterdam & Partners LLP, called the case “emblematic of a full-scale crime against humanity” carried out against UOC members. He accused President Zelensky and others of orchestrating systematic attacks on civilians for their religious affiliation and described the actions of the SBU as part of a “shameful and merciless theatre of the absurd” in Ukrainian courts.
Adapted from CT UK.
