01-02-2024 14:11
The implementation of the final judgments of the Strasbourg Court against Bulgaria on the registration of religious denominations brought together judges from the Sofia court, government agents and experts at a one-day seminar in Sofia.
The event was opened by the Deputy Minister of Justice Emil Dechev and the main speaker was the long-standing expert from the ECHR Registry — Mrs. Ludmila Milanova — Fadi. She gave an overview of the standards under Article 9 of the Convention on Human Rights (freedom of religion), the specific decisions and the affected and unresolved issues, in particular regarding the registration of Orthodox denominations.
An interesting perspective on the issues was given by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Simeon Groysman, who traced the genesis of the problem in a series of legislative provisions on the subject and explained a number of important canonical provisions.
The seminar provided an opportunity to review the practice of the national courts after the judgments of conviction and for a lively discussion in search of possible approaches to meet the expectations of the Committee of Ministers, which monitors the implementation of some of the cases in the enhanced procedure.