The Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Reuven Azman sent a letter to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky concerning the wiretapping of the Central Synagogue.
He reported this on his Facebook page, UNN writes.
“Esteemed Volodymyr Oleksandrovych! It seems some of the law enforcement officials decided to revive the KGB practices in Ukraine and test them on the representatives of the Jewish community. Therefore, I appeal to you as to the Guarantor of compliance with the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens," Azman wrote.
In his letter, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine refers to the media and notes that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine illegally wiretapped the building of Brodsky Synagogue in Kyiv to surveil the parishioners who were members of the Jewish community.
"Unfortunately, even though the situation got a significant public response including Israel, Europe and the United States, my official appeals to law enforcement agencies in this regard failed to get a proper reaction," he said.
Azman says that parishioners informed him of further harassment and illegal pressure put on them by NABU under the guise of investigating the criminal case, dubbed by the media 'The Golden Mandarin'. Although he passed this information to the appropriate authorities, the issue was not addressed.
"Moreover, when summoned to the Parliamentary Committee meeting, the head of NABU, Mr. Artem Sytnyk, claimed that both the synagogue wiretapping and pressuring parishioners were fabrications and insinuations against him. In other words, he accused me of lying. Thus, I had to publish an official document that explicitly stated that the wiretapping was conducted at the synagogue address. The head of NABU deliberately misled the Parliament by trying to discredit the priest, whose word is particularly important for his parishioners,” the letter to Zelensky reads.
Azman also emphasised that he has the information about the representatives of anti-corruption agencies using his name and words of support in official documents to justify their demands for the detention of members of the Jewish community.
"Meaning my support for NABU and SAP is a reason enough for a person to be imprisoned," he added.
Therefore, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine believes that NABU is doing nothing short of reincarnating the practices of totalitarian regimes, which issued decisive and ruthless punishments for any attempt to protect rights and freedoms.
“The officials responsible for organizing the surveillance of the synagogue still have not been punished and continue to work, which I consider an unacceptable violation of the law," Azman wrote.
He believes that the issue of pressuring and persecuting members of the Jewish community has escalated enough to undermine domestic law and order, as well as to discredit Ukraine in the international arena.
"In this regard, I implore you, Mr. President, to take control of the situation and help restore justice!" Azman appealed to Zelensky.
As reported before, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine had accused Sytnyk of public lies concerning the surveillance of the synagogue parishioners.
Moshe Azman named the NABU employees who were allegedly surveilling the synagogue.
NABU stated that the people mentioned by the Rabbi had nothing to do with the synagogue wiretapping.