Strasbourg Court Rejects Ban on Implementation of the Law on Freedom of Religion

(Patria) - The European Court of Human Rights has rejected the request of the Radić Law Firm from Belgrade to ban Montenegro from implementing the Law on Freedom of Religion until the Constitutional Court decides on the constitutionality of the Law or until the conclusion of a fundamental agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church. 

The Radić Law Firm from Belgrade submitted initiatives on 27 and 30 January 2020 to the European Court for the issuance of an interim measure that would prohibit the state authorities of Montenegro from implementing the Law on Freedom of Religion until the Constitutional Court of Montenegro decides on the submitted initiatives for the assessment of constitutionality and legality, or until the conclusion of a fundamental agreement between the SOC and the State of Montenegro.

The Court in Strasbourg rejected this request, of which the Office of the Representative of Montenegro before the European Court of Human Rights was officially informed.

 As early as 2012, Montenegro won a case before the European Court of Human Rights in a lawsuit filed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, which demanded the restitution of church property in Montenegro. The Strasbourg Court then dismissed the SOC's lawsuit, which was joined by the Republic of Serbia as an intervener, as manifestly unfounded and inadmissible, finding that the plaintiffs had neither "existing property" nor a "legitimate expectation" for the return of the property whose restitution they sought.

"The latest decision of the Court in Strasbourg is yet another proof that the objections raised against the Law on Freedom of Religion are exclusively political and ideological in nature and have no basis in either domestic or international law," the Government of Montenegro stated.