Lawyer Nikita Chekman, in an interview with the Dialogue.TUT portal, noted that certain actions have been carried out in our country to discredit the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for a long time.

“With amazing frequency, the media openly persecute the UOC and its clergy. We are constantly accused of being unpatriotic, collaborating with the enemy, and the like. on the whole Church, and some negative points are deliberately identified with the entire structure,” he added.

According to the lawyer, there are collaborators and traitors in the SSU and law enforcement agencies, “this can be seen in the register of court decisions – how many guilty verdicts are passed against these individuals.”

“We know that in the regions that are now temporarily occupied or were under occupation, many representatives of state authorities and local self-government, unfortunately, carried out activities against Ukraine. But for some reason, there was and is no question of banning a particular service or administration, in which cases of collaboration were revealed,” Nikita Chekman emphasized.

He suggested that “perhaps due to a certain political interest, but we see the fact: a systematic approach is used against the UOC, and news is produced from a certain angle.”

The lawyer added that we live in the 21st century, technologies are very developed, so if you present information “correctly”, you can form any necessary opinion in society. And when the news daily shows information about the UOC on the one hand, and the other side is not covered at all, people begin to form a negative attitude. And then there are the technical details.

“Sorry, I myself worked in law enforcement agencies and I know very well how searches are carried out. When a large number of operatives come in and there is no way to control them all. This is not a secret for anyone,” the lawyer said.