ПРОГРАМИ
en de ru fr es sr gr al tr ro
Podcast in English
Share
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

European Human Rights Court declares another church lawsuit against Bulgaria illegitimate

Photo: European Human Rights Court

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has declared the complaint of the Orthodox Christian Church and Others v. Bulgaria inadmissible. The decision was made unanimously on March 6 and is final, the Ministry of Justice announced.

The reason for filing the case with the European Human Rights Court is the refusal of the Bulgarian courts to register the church founded by Hristo Petrov Sabev. The allegations are a violation of Art. 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) and Art. 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the Convention for the Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.

The Bulgarian courts point out that the name Orthodox Christian Church is similar to that of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC), may create confusion among believers and mislead, because the founders share the same religious beliefs and practices as the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

The European Human Rights Court distinguishes the present case from the previous cases “Independent Orthodox Church and Zahariev v. Bulgaria” and “Bulgarian Orthodox Old Style Church and Others v. Bulgaria”, in which it considered that although the difference in the names is in one word, it is very specific and this sufficiently distinguishes them from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and does not create a risk of confusion among believers.

Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.
Radio Bulgaria News    Bulgarian Orthodox Church European Human Rights Court

More from category

Migrant pressure down by 70%, but migrants from Egypt and Morocco on the rise

In 2024, border guards prevented more than 52 500 migrants from attempting to enter Bulgaria illegally. The Border Police' increased patrols and equipment have led to a 70% drop in migration pressure compared to the same period in 2023. This was..

published on 3/12/25 3:47 PM

Bulgaria among the countries where new European AI factories are to be built

The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking for European High Performance Computing has selected six new European Artificial Intelligence (AI) factories to strengthen Europe's leadership in innovation and AI. Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Poland and..

published on 3/12/25 3:39 PM
Natalia Kiselova, Speaker of the National Assembly.

MPs call for release of documents on election dispute

With 128 votes in favour, Parliament adopted a statement by National Assembly Speaker Natalia Kiselova calling on the members of the Constitutional Court to make public all documents related to the constitutional dispute over the recent October 2024..

published on 3/12/25 2:51 PM

WEATHER
Pick city: Sofía
Cloudy
Min: 12 | Max: 20
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 14 | Max: 21
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 14 | Max: 19
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 5 | Max: 19
Cloudy
Min: 10 | Max: 23
Cloudy
Min: 15 | Max: 22
Cloudy
Min: 8 | Max: 20
Cloudy
Min: 13 | Max: 22
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 13 | Max: 19
Cloudy
Min: 8 | Max: 19
Cloudy
Min: 11 | Max: 22
Cloudy
Min: 8 | Max: 22
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 10 | Max: 21
Cloudy
Min: 8 | Max: 18
Cloudy
Min: 11 | Max: 21
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 9 | Max: 20
Cloudy
Min: 12 | Max: 20
Cloudy
Min: 12 | Max: 22
Cloudy
Min: 11 | Max: 22
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 13 | Max: 20
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 4 | Max: 15
Cloudy
Min: 10 | Max: 19
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 11 | Max: 19
Cloudy
Min: 9 | Max: 19
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 14 | Max: 19
Cloudy
Min: 11 | Max: 21
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 9 | Max: 20
BULGARIA IN PICTURES
Which world-famous Bulgarian artist designed QSL cards for Radio Bulgaria?
Yasen Gyuzelev
Theodore Ushev
Christo Javacheff - Christo
Ilia Peikov
Lika Yanko

BULGARIANS ABROAD

Български English Русский Deutsch Српски Français Ελληνικά Español Shqip Türkçe Română
MOST VIEWED

Vazrazhdane sends formal request to the president for a referendum on keeping the Bulgarian Lev

Vazrazhdane party has sent a formal request to President Rumen Radev to call a referendum on keeping the Bulgarian Lev , the party’s leader Kostadin..

published on 3/11/25 10:10 AM

Constitutional Court accuses Central Election Commission and Information Services of sabotage

The Central Election Commission (CEC) must carry out the re-calculation of the election results it has been tasked with by the Constitutional Court...

published on 3/11/25 8:59 AM

Central Election Commission postpones, by 18 hours, handover of re-calculated results from parliamentary election

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has decided to hand the tally sheets, in paper form, from the election, provided by the Constitutional Court, as..

published on 3/11/25 11:59 AM

english@bnr.bg

+359 2 9336 661

Общи условия за използване на сайта | Политика за поверителност | Политика за "бисквитки"