In Ilyin and Others v Ukraine [2022] ECHR 1005, the authorities had refused to register a community of the Unification Church based in Kyiv.

Background

The “‘Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity’ Religious Community in the Kyiv Obolonsky District”, adherents of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, applied unsuccessfully to be registered [6]. The Committee for Religious Affairs decided that an in-depth study of the community’s “socio-religious activities and actual worship practice” should be undertaken before taking a decision on registration [7] and in 2007, the Administration said that it had received complaints about a destructive influence being exercised on participants in seminars organised by the community in the Kyiv region [9]. Continue reading →