BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbian President Boris Tadic signed a controversial new religion law April 27, although he recognized that it violates the European Convention on Human Rights. He ordered parliament, which approved the law April 20, to amend the law “in an urgent vote” to remove the violations.
Under a last-minute amendment before parliament approved the law, all but the seven recognized “traditional” faiths lost their legal status and will have to reapply, even those present in Serbia for more than a century like the Nazarenes, Baptists and Adventists. They also lose their tax-exempt status. “This law makes some citizens more equal than others,” General Secretary of the Union of Baptist Churches in Serbia Zarko Djordjevic said.
Minority faiths also fear they will lose the chance to regain confiscated property in the restitution bill expected to begin its parliamentary process in May.
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