Letter from the president of the Russian federation, Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin, to the president of the State Duma, G.N. Seleznev, and president of the Federation Council, E.S. Stroev, 23 July 1997

On the basis of part 3, article 107 of the constitution of the Russian federation, I reject the federal law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" that was sent to the president of the Russian federation for signature and approval, which had been adopted by the State Duma on 23 June 1997 and approved by the Federation Council on 4 July 1997. The federal law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Association," (hereafter called "the federal law") contradicts the foundations of the constitutional structure of the Russian federation and other provisions of the constitution of the Russian federation and generally recognized principles and norms of international law, specifically articles 2, 6, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 28, 29, 30, 54, 55, 59 and 62 of the constitution of the Russian federation, articles 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 18 and 19 of the International Agreement on Civil and Political Rights, articles 9 and 10 of the Convention of the Council of Europe on Defense of Rights and Basic Freedoms. It is not accidental that despite part 4 article 15 of the constitution of the Russian federation, the text of the federal law eliminated mention of international legal acts as an integral part of the legislation of the Russian federation on freedom of conscience and contains only a reference to the subsidiary use of the provisions of international agreements for purposes of interpreting the legislation of the Russian federation on freedom of conscience (the authors of the federal law themselves excluded international legal agreements of which Russia is a participant). Participation in the Convention on Defense of Rights and Basic Freedoms is a prerequisite for members in the Council of Europe. In accordance with the procedure for entering the Council of Europe in 1996 Russia signed this convention and took upon itself the political obligation to ratify this founding act within one year. At the present time I am preparing the documents for submitting this convention for ratification to the State Duma.

Besides, the federal law contradicts a number of other laws of the Russian federation, creating an additional imbalance in the system of Russian legislation that already is seriously disordered by the poorly thought out and chaotic legislative process. On the one hand, the federal law, following the constitution of the Russian federation, characterizes the Russian federation as a secular state, but on the other hand, under the pretext of restricting the activity of false religious organizations it introduces discriminatory rules of registration and reregistration of religious organizations (point 2, article 7, articles 9 and 11, point 5, article 27 of the federal law) of confessions which have grown up in Russia. There is no doubt that the state can and must restrict the activity of pseudoreligious organizations which cause harm to the morality and health of the population, but this does not mean that in doing so the state can trample upon fundamental human rights.

Serious concern is evoked by the provisions of the federal law that are deliberately aimed at the restriction of the rights of citizens of the Russian federation, primarily those living outside the Russian federation, as well as persons who are not citizens of the Russian federation. These items contradict articles 2, 6, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 28, 29, 30, 55, and 62 of the constitution of the Russian federation, articles 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 18 and 19 of the International Agreement on Civil and Political Rights and article 9 and 10 of the Convention of the Council of Europe on Defense of Rights and Basic Freedoms. It is necessary to emphasize that article 2 of the constitution of the Russian federation secures human rights and freedoms as the supreme value of the Russian federation and requires the state and all its agencies to acknowledge, observe, and defend human and civil rights and freedoms . Article 18 provides that human and civil rights and freedoms determine the sense, content, and implementation of the law, the activity of the legislative and executive branches, and local administration and are secured by the judiciary. Articles 19, 28, and 30 of the constitution of the Russian federation guarantee to everyone freedom of religious profession, including the right to profess individually or corporately with others any religion or to profess no religion at all, freedom of choice and dissemination of religious and other convictions, and the right of association irrespective of Russian citizenship, place of residence, and other circumstances. Besides, part 3 of article 62 of the constitution of the Russian federation establishes that foreign citizens and persons without citizenship who are legally on the territory of the Russian federation enjoy the rights secured by the constitution of the Russian federation on an equal basis with citizens of Russia. Moreover in accordance with article 3 of the law of the Russian federation "On the Right of Citizens of the Russian Federation to Freedom of Movement, Choice of Place of Abode and Residence within the Russian Federation" registration of the place of abode and of residence or absence of such cannot serve as the basis for restricting, or condition for enjoying, civil rights and freedoms. Similar standards are secured also in article 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 18 and 19 of the International Agreement on Civil and Political Rights, and articles 9 and 10 of the Convention of the Council of Europe on Defense of the Rights and Basic Freedoms. However the provisions of point 4 of article 3, article 6, article 7, article 8, article 9, point 4 of article 11, and point 2 of article 20 of the federal law violate these indicated constitutional and international legal principles and standards, since they contain restrictions of the rights of citizens of the Russian federation, primarily those living outside of the Russian federation, and also persons who are not citizens of the Russian federation. Thus, point 3 of article 8 of the federal law provides that corporate profession and dissemination of belief in the form of religious organization may be carried out only by citizens of the Russian federation who reside permanently in one locality.

Still more seriously are infringed the rights of foreign citizens and persons without citizenship. In accordance with points 4 of article 3, articles 6-9, and point 4 of article 11 they do not have the right to profess and disseminate belief corporately and they can meet their religious needs only on an individual basis.

There is a serious unconstitutional provision in the federal law in the absence of the principle of equality of religious associations before the law, that is established by article 13 and 14 of the constitution of the Russian federation and by article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 19 of the International Agreement on Civil and Political Rights and article 10 of the Convention of the Council of Europe on Defense of Rights and Basic Freedoms, which contain the provision that each person has the right to acquire and disseminate freely information (including religious information) without the interference of state agencies and irrespective of state boundaries.

Besides, point 2 of article 13 of the federal law provides that representation of foreign religious organizations may be established only under Russian religious organizations. Such a standard, first, places the representation of foreign religious organizations in direct dependence upon the attitude of Russian religious organizations toward them and, second, gives to Russian religious organizations functions of agencies of state authority with regard to foreign religious organizations, since before state registration of their representation within Russia foreign religious organizations must receive official agreement to their creation from a Russian religious organization. The same point 2 of article 13 of the federal law also violates the principle of the separation of religious associations from the state, which also is declared in the third paragraph of point 2 and the third paragraph of point 5 of article 4 of the federal law, which is secured in article 15 of the constitution of the Russian federation.

The indicated constitutional principle also is violated by the requirement of point 1 of article 9 of the federal law which provides that the decision of a centralized religious organization with regard to confirming the existence of a religious group actually is equated legally with the decision of an local administrative agency. The president of the Russian federation already has expressed frequently the position that it is necessary to guarantee the equality of everyone professing a religion before the law, as well as of religious associations, specifically twice in refusing to sign, in 1993, the law adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian federation "On changes and additions to the RSFSR law 'On Freedom of Religious Professions'" on the basis that it contradicted the constitution of the Russian federation and international legal principles. Besides, after the adoption of the draft of the current federal law on first reading, the head of state sent to the lower chamber of parliament conceptual notes and suggestions, which the deputies nevertheless entirely ignored.

The preamble of the federal law also secures the inequality of religions, since only Orthodoxy is recognized as an integral part of the all-Russian historical, spiritual, and cultural heritage. Islam is recognized on a par with Orthodoxy, but without indicating its part in the all-Russian heritage, and Buddhism, Judaism, and other traditional religions are recognized as "respected." These provisions do not deal with the remaining religions. Besides, point 3 of article 3 of the federal law contradicts this point of the preamble because it says that preeminence, restrictions, or any other forms of discrimination with regard to attitude toward religion are not permitted. In view of article 28 of the constitution of the Russian federation, which defines freedom of religious professions as the right to profess individually or corporately with others any religion, it is necessary to note both the internal contradiction of the federal law itself and the unconstitutionality of the hierarchy of religions that the preamble establishes.

The principle of equality of religious associations before the law is also violated by point 5 article 8 and point 1 article 9 of the federal law: the recognition by the state of a religious organization as all-Russian or local is determined by the length of time of its existence of the organization itself. Thus, religious associations that have existed less than fifteen years, according to article 9 of the federal law (point 5 of article 27 of the federal law) are denied the right of legal entity. This provision does not agree with part 2 of article 61 of the civil code of the Russian federation insofar as such a basis as the existence of activity during a period of less than fifteen years cannot be used by the court in making a decision. Besides this, part 2 of article 54 of the constitution of the Russian federation provides that it is impermissible to enact measures of responsibility for actions which at the time of their commission were not considered to be illegal, and the compulsory denial of a legal entity constitutes just such a measure of civil and legal responsibility. The question of their property, fiscal, and other rights and the obligations of the liquidated organizations remains open.

Point 3 of article 4 of the federal law requires the state to give financial, material, and other aid to religious organizations to secure teaching of general education subjects in the educational institutions that are formed by religious organizations. This requirement contradicts, first of all, article 19 of the constitution of the Russian federation, since it places citizens who profess and corporately promote religious views in the form of organization in a favored position with respect to citizens who also are taxpayers and who profess such views individually or in the form of a religious group or of associations within public organizations for other interests (cultural, athletic, and others). This also contradicts point 7 of article 41 of the law of the Russian federation "On Education," according to which nongovermental general educational institutions receive the right to state and/or municipal financing from the moment of their state accreditation provided that they are implementing the basic general education curriculum.

In accordance with point 5 of article 8 of the federal law an organization that has operated on the territory of the Russian federation for at least fifty years may be recognized as an all-Russian religious organization, if it has local religious organizations in at least half of the subject regions of the Russian federation or in no fewer than three "ethno-cultural" elements in three subject regions of the Russian federation. But even under such circumstances the decision about its recognition is made by the government of the Russian federation, which violates article 51 of the civil code of the Russian federation and constitutes interference of the state in the activity of religious organizations.

The list of the provisions of the federal law that are incompatible with the constitution of the Russian federation could be continued. In order to secure the full participation of the Russian federation in the integrative processes not only in Europe but also in the whole world, in light of the multiconfessional nature of the population of the Russian federation, the problem of securing the guarantees of human and civil rights and freedoms in the area of freedom of religious profession, the choice and dissemination of religious convictions, and the equality of religious associations before the law has exceptionally great importance. In order to avoid international isolation of the traditional Russian confessions and to prevent conflicts on religious bases within the country and to avoid charges against the Russian federation of persecution for convictions, as head of state and guarantor of the constitution of the Russian federation and of the human and civil rights and freedoms in regard to the need to bring the federal law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" into conformity with the constitution of the Russian federation, with international legal norms, with other laws of the Russian federation, and also to remove the numerous internal contradictions of the law, I submit that it is necessary to make substantial revisions. I call the attention of the deputies of the State Duma and members of the Federation Council to the direct action of the constitution of the Russian federation and its supreme juridical force. In particular, the regulations of part 4 of article 15 of the constitution of the Russian federation include generally recognized principles and norms of international law and the international agreements of the Russian federation, including those dealing with matters of freedom of conscience, in its legal system and guarantee their priority with regard to federal laws. In accordance with the indicated provisions of the constitution of the Russian federal I warn that if at the time of its review by the chambers of the Federation Assembly it is approved in its current version, as guarantor of the constitution of the Russian federation, at the same time as the federal law is signed and approved I also shall publish a letter in which I indicate specifically those of its requirements which may not be implemented because they contradict the constitution of the Russian federation and international agreements of the Russian federation.