ECHR turns down Church of Scientology’s claim against Belgium
© RIA Novosti
18:58 19/09/2013
MOSCOW, September 19 (RAPSI) - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) declared inadmissible an application filed by the Church of Scientology claiming that the Belgian authorities had breached the church’s rights by issuing statements to the media on a pending investigation.
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In August 2008, the applicant turned to the ECHR, claiming that its rights under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention) had been violated. According to the statement: “Relying on Article 6 § 1 the Church of Scientology complained of a violation by the prosecution of its right to a fair hearing, alleging that prosecutors had publicly giving their opinion on charges against it before the submissions for the prosecution had been made at the stage of the finalising of the pretrial proceedings.”
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As explained in the court’s statement: “There had been no audio or video recording of those statements, nor had they been transcribed in documents emanating from the authorities in question, such as procedural documents or official press releases. The only evidence produced by the applicant association consisted of press articles for which the relevant journalists were solely responsible, and it was highly possible that those articles did not accurately reflect the nuances of the remarks in question.” The ECHR added that the evidence had not demonstrated that the authorities had breached their duty of discretion.
