ECHR TO HEAR APPEAL OF PASTOR FINED FOR READING BIBLE IN A CAFÉ
The European Court for Human Rights [ECHR] registered an appeal from a pastor from Sochi, Aleksei Koliasnikov, who was fined 30,000 rubles for reading the Bible in a café, RIA Novosti was told by his attorney, Alexander Popkov.
"Today I received a letter from Strasbourg from the judicial executive assistant of the court saying that our appeal had been registered," Popkov said.
The pastor sent an appeal to Strasbourg against the decisions of courts that considered that reading the Bible in a café that had been rented for this purpose is a violation of the article of law concerning planning a public event without giving notification about its being conducted.
The defense attorney specified that Koliasnikov's appeal is about the violation of the right to a fair judicial investigation (article 6 of the Convention), of the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion (article 9), of the freedom of expression of opinion (article 10), and of the freedom of assembly and association (article 11). (tr. by PDS, posted 16 December 2015)
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