European human rights defender urges to curb lawlessness in Kolomyia

On November 22, 2017, at the OSCE conference in Yerevan, the executive director of the observatory on intolerance and discrimination against Christians in Europe said that the authorities of Ukraine should bring to justice those responsible for the interfaith conflict in Kolomyia. A video with her statement was published by NGO “Public Advocacy”, which from November 20 to November 23 together with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), presents the information on crimes and hate speech against Orthodox Christians in Ukraine.

Ex-prosecutor of Vermont, USA, head of the human rights organization "Observatory for the Discrimination of Christians in Europe", Ellen Kruger Fantini, got familiarized with the documented evidence of threats and open violence towards believers of the UOC "in front of the police, ignored by the police and, at times, committed by the police".

"We think this is unacceptable, we think that the authorities of Ukraine must bring to justice all those who are responsible for committing violence towards Christians who are simply trying to worship in their own churches," the human rights activist concluded.