ECTHR Orders Govt To Compensate Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship
- 26 Apr 2017 9:00 AM
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship, a Methodist church headed by Gábor Iványi who was a founder of the now-defunct liberal Free Democrats, is entitled to 3 million euros in damages from the Hungarian state in compensation for loss of donations and subsidies, among other monetary losses, stemming from Hungary’s law on the legal status of churches.
Iványi’s church filed a lawsuit alongside with eight other churches in connection with the 2011 law on the legal status of churches and religious denominations which deregistered around 200 churches.
In 2014, the ECtHR ruled that the law infringed the basic rights freedom of thought, conscience and religion as well as the freedom of assembly and association.
The court also said the state should pay the church’s legal costs related to the case.
Iványi expressed pleasure over the court’s decision, but said their community was still in “no man’s land” since their church had not yet retained either its status as a church or its technical registration number.
Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.
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