Bulgaria’s treatment of Evangelical minority group breached Article 9: Dimitrova v Bulgaria

The facts

In Dimitrova v Bulgaria [2015] ECHR 152 the applicant, Ms Dimitrova, was a member of Word of Life, an international Evangelical organisation based in Uppsala. Three non-profit organisations affiliated with Word of Life were registered by the Sofia City Court as non-profit organisations under the Persons and Family Act and one of them opened a Bible study centre in Sofia; but in April 1994 the Supreme Court reversed the Sofia City Court’s decision to register them and they were removed from the register. Nor had they been registered in accordance with the Religious Denominations Act: so Word of Life had no legal status in Bulgaria at the time of the events in question [6]. Continue reading