Robert Amsterdam demands investigation into murder of Sviatohirsk Lavra monk
International human rights advocates have called for those responsible for the murder of Monk Varsonofiy (Turianskyi) to be identified and brought to justice.
Robert Amsterdam posted on X a statement by the international law firm Amsterdam & Partners LLP demanding an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation into the murder of a monk at the Sviatohirsk Lavra.
The lawyers called for those responsible for the murder of Monk Varsonofiy (Turianskyi) to be identified and brought to justice.
In his comments, Amsterdam drew attention to the fact that on the day of the monk’s murder, Ukraine’s political leadership gathered for a prayer breakfast, traditionally without representatives of the UOC.
“The hypocrisy of the incumbent administration and its supporters is staggering. The murder of Monk Varsanofy is the horrifying consequence of an atmosphere they helped create,” the lawyer said.
He added that "prayer breakfasts cannot provide cover for religious persecution" and called on the foreign political and religious leaders who attended Volodymyr Zelensky’s event to consider whether their presence was legitimizing the very policies that the principles of religious freedom should compel them to oppose.
The statement also stressed that the attack cannot be viewed separately from what it described as systematic state pressure on the UOC, including by the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), headed by Viktor Yelensky.
The organization called on Ukraine’s international partners to closely examine the broader campaign against the UOC and demand that the Ukrainian government respect religious freedom and the Church’s institutional independence.
“Violent attacks do not occur in a political vacuum,” the statement said.
As the UOJ reported, a wounded member of the Sviatohirsk Lavra community previously described the attackers.
