Strasbourg Court rejects Belgrade lawyer's request to ban implementation of Law on Freedom of Religion

The European Court of Human Rights has rejected the Belgrade - based Law Office Radić request to ban Montenegro from implementing the Law on Freedom of Religion, until the Constitutional Court's decision on the constitutionality of the Law or the conclusion of a fundamental agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The Belgrade – based Law Office Radić filed an initiative to the European Court of Justice on 27 and 30 January 2020, to issue a temporary measure, prohibiting the state authorities of Montenegro from implementing the Law on Freedom of Religion, until the decision of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro on the submitted initiatives for review of constitutionality and the legality or until the conclusion of the basic agreement between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the State of Montenegro.

The Strasbourg court rejected such a request, of which Office of the Representative of Montenegro before the European Court of Human Rights was informed.

We recall that Montenegro won a case before the European Court of Human Rights in 2012, following a lawsuit filed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, which demanded the restitution of church property in Montenegro. The Court in Strasbourg then dismissed the SPC lawsuit, which the Republic of Serbia joined as intervener, as manifestly unfounded and unacceptable, finding that the plaintiffs had neither "existing property" nor "legitimate expectation" of the property restitution, whose restitution they demanded.

The latest decision of the Strasbourg Court represents another proof that the remarks made regarding the Law on Freedom of Religion, are purely political and ideological in nature and have no basis in either domestic or international law.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTNEGRO