Media resources defending the interests of the OCU initiated an information campaign to discredit the head of the international human rights company Amsterdam & Partners LLP, Robert Amsterdam, who represents the legal interests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The website “Religion in Ukraine” published a material entitled “Robert Amsterdam’s White Paper. A man-chapitot”. The author of the publication – Tetyana Derkach tries to convince readers that Amsterdam’s work to protect the UOC is rather a way of drawing attention to the problem than actually solving it.
“It is still unknown in what status and what exactly legal services Mr. Amsterdam provides to the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, but what he does publicly does not look at all like advocacy with its noble and refined ethics, as we are accustomed to imagine it. All of Amsterdam’s appearances look like a one-actor show in a moving marquee with dozens of spectacular stunts. He simultaneously throws darts at paper targets, conjures cobras, swallows fire and juggles skittles. And when the tricks don’t work, the Joker appears on stage threatening to send the enraged audience to court or even an international tribunal. His hyperactivity frightens balanced people and attracts daredevils,” – Derkach writes.
The author tries to accuse Amsterdam of “craving for Russia” by downplaying his advocacy. “Khodorkovsky case”, in which Robert Amsterdam acted as a lawyer, according to Tatiana Derkach, is insignificant, and the lawyer himself “likes to embellish reality”.
“In general, Amsterdam likes to embellish reality. All of his profiles mention that he was recognized as ‘Lawyer of the Week’ by The Times in 2005.” In fact, “Lawyer of the Week” is not a title or an award, but a weekly column in The Times. It would have been strange if the British lawyer, who at the time had the Khodorkovsky case in his portfolio, had not been invited for a miniature interview for the weekly column: eight simple biographical questions like “why did you become a lawyer?” and “where do you see yourself in 10 years?”. Then he demonstrated his subconscious unhealthy attraction to Russia – despite all the problems that befell him there,” – the author noted.
Derkach describes Amsterdam with unflattering epithets, believing that, in fact, the lawyer’s advocacy is aimed not at achieving results, but at creating PR for the particular situation he takes on. According to Derkach, Robert Amsterdam knows nothing else but how to write petitions with which he intimidates opponents.
“Amsterdam is an adrenaline cocktail of narcissism, self-parody and self-righteousness. His adolescent fascination with Marxism explains his advocacy of various revolutionary and opposition movements in countries with unstable political situations. The victims of Amsterdam’s informational nihilism are not only the countries of Africa and Asia, but now Ukraine as well. The United Kingdom is also being punished for imposing sanctions on Russian oligarchs incorporated into the Russian political system of the Putin regime: “We (Great Britain – author) have abandoned human rights in favor of persecuting people we call oligarchs”. It looks like a promotional offer for super-rich clients to take advantage of Amsterdam’s specific services to lift sanctions in the country where he has a law license. One of Amsterdam’s favorite pastimes is to create multi-page documents and petitions and intimidate opponents with these talmuds, which are problematic to read (and even more so to make factchecking of this waste paper) for the average person,” – the author writes.
We will remind, earlier we reported that an MP of Ukraine from the party of ex-President Petro Poroshenko’s party “European Solidarity” Irina Gerashchenko said that their parliamentary faction filed an application to the Security Service of Ukraine on the activities of the American human rights activist Robert Amsterdam, who represents the legal interests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The MP said that Amsterdam was exerting pressure on the activities of the Ukrainian parliament.
