MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. Complaints lodged by Russia to the UN about the Kiev government’s persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are being heard, but violations continue, said lawyer Ivan Melnikov, who is also the vice-chair of the Russian Office of the International Committee for Protection of Human Rights.

The lawyer told TASS he had filed a complaint to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the persecution of the UOC and the decision to revoke the citizenship of its head, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Onufriy (Berezovsky).

"Sadly, despite our numerous appeals <…> the persecution continues. I see that the [Kiev government] is not going to back down, despite the fact that this religious persecution was noticed even by our geopolitical rivals, who said that persecuting clergy is unacceptable. But it continues to happen," he said.

"My letter of complaint was quite extensive as I made a deep analysis of various crimes [against the UOC], hoping for a proper response by the United Nations. Our requests are not being left unanswered," Melnikov continued.

In his words, revoking citizenship is a common tactic used by the Kiev government to put pressure on the Ukrainian clergy.

"This is not the first time," he said. "In all, according to my information, about 20 priests and bishops have been stripped of their citizenship as of now. The decision to revoke the citizenship of Metropolitan Onufriy is an attempt to put additional pressure on the church," the lawyer added. "We need to protect our brothers in religion no matter what.".