site.btaHuman Rights Court Dismisses as Manifestly Unfounded Complaint of Orthodox Christian Church against Bulgaria

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) declared inadmissible the complaint of the Orthodox Christian Church and others against Bulgaria. The decision was taken unanimously on March 6 by a panel of three judges, including Bulgarian judge Diana Kovacheva, and is final, the Justice Ministry said on Tuesday.

The main reason was that the appeal was manifestly unfounded.

The reason for bringing the case before the ECHR is the refusal of the Bulgarian courts of two instances - Sofia City Court and Sofia Court of Appeals - to register the church established on the initiative of Hristo Petrov Sabev. The allegations are a violation of Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) and Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In their reasons for the refusals, the Bulgarian courts pointed out that the name Orthodox Christian Church was so similar to that of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC) that it could mislead and create confusion among believers. In addition, the founders share the same religious beliefs and practices as the BOC.

In the case of Orthodox Christian Church, the ECtHR now accepts the arguments of the Bulgarian side and states that the national courts have given relevant and sufficient reasons to refuse registration, mainly because of the too great similarity between the names of the applicant church and the BOC and the resulting likelihood of confusion.

According to the ECHR, the reasoning of the national courts was not arbitrary, the confusing similarity was present, there was no difference in meaning, the only difference being the addition of the word "Christian" in the name of the applicant church. The ECHR therefore declares the complaint manifestly unfounded and dismisses it.

Parliament adopted at second reading on 31 January amendments to the Religions Act, which designate the self-governing unified Bulgarian Orthodox Church-Bulgarian Patriarchate (BOC-BP) as the sole expression and representative of the country's traditional faith, Eastern Orthodoxy.