On 12 March 2024, representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine came with searches to the center for legal protection of the interests of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kiev, lawyer Nikita Chekman, who represents the interests of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, has said.
Earlier, representatives of the SBU came with searches to the editorial office of the Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ), which covers events around the canonical UOC.
"Political persecution continues, today representatives of the Security Service came with searches to the office, where the legal defense center is carrying out work, where citizens are received, where the lawyer is on duty and receives calls," wrote Chekman in Telegram.
He added that the law enforcers violated Ukrainian law by conducting searches at the official workplace of the lawyer without the presence of the National Bar Association.
"Now the lawyer who represents the interests of our law office has left to the place... Representatives of the authorities, no longer squeamish, have begun to commit outright persecution of those who do not please them, those who defend the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," - added the lawyer.
We shall remind you that the Ukrainian authorities organized the largest wave of persecution against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the country's modern history. Referring to its connection with Russia, local authorities in different regions of Ukraine adopted decisions to ban the activities of the UOC, and the parliament adopted in the first reading a bill on its de facto ban on the entire territory of the country.
The authorities have imposed sanctions against some members of the UOC clergy. The Security Service of Ukraine began to initiate criminal cases against the clergy of the UOC and to conduct "counterintelligence activities" - searches of bishops and priests, churches and monasteries in search of evidence of "anti-Ukrainian activity".
Earlier, representatives of the SBU came with searches to the editorial office of the Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ), which covers events around the canonical UOC.
"Political persecution continues, today representatives of the Security Service came with searches to the office, where the legal defense center is carrying out work, where citizens are received, where the lawyer is on duty and receives calls," wrote Chekman in Telegram.
He added that the law enforcers violated Ukrainian law by conducting searches at the official workplace of the lawyer without the presence of the National Bar Association.
"Now the lawyer who represents the interests of our law office has left to the place... Representatives of the authorities, no longer squeamish, have begun to commit outright persecution of those who do not please them, those who defend the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," - added the lawyer.
We shall remind you that the Ukrainian authorities organized the largest wave of persecution against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the country's modern history. Referring to its connection with Russia, local authorities in different regions of Ukraine adopted decisions to ban the activities of the UOC, and the parliament adopted in the first reading a bill on its de facto ban on the entire territory of the country.
The authorities have imposed sanctions against some members of the UOC clergy. The Security Service of Ukraine began to initiate criminal cases against the clergy of the UOC and to conduct "counterintelligence activities" - searches of bishops and priests, churches and monasteries in search of evidence of "anti-Ukrainian activity".