STRASBOURG, France — Europe’s human rights court has determined that a campaign by the government of Bulgaria to turn children and families away from Protestant churches discriminated against evangelical Christians.
Alliance Defending Freedom International and attorney Viktor Kostov argued that officials of Burgas, Bulgaria, sought in 2008 to discredit the church and to infringe on the religious freedom of pastors and churches.
That year, the City Council of Burgas with the police sent a letter to school administrators, accusing evangelical Christians of “carrying out a massive campaign of agitation” and claiming that attending Protestant services could result in “mental aberrations and disorders,” ADF International reported. Students were instructed to report any encounters with people from these groups.
After Bulgaria’s national courts rejected the case, it was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. In December 2022, that court issued its condemnation of the government’s tactics, according to ADF International.
ADF International and Kostov represented Bulgarian pastors Zhivko Tonchev and Radoslav Kiryakov in the case.
“The European Court of Human Rights has affirmed that the government of Bulgaria was wrong to target these Christians with an alarmist campaign designed to suppress the freedom to live out their beliefs,” said Robert Clarke, ADF International’s director of advocacy as well as co-counsel on the case.
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