CASE OF BIBLICAL CENTRE OF THE CHUVASH REPUBLIC v. RUSSIA
Violation of Article 9 - Freedom of thought conscience and religion (Article 9-1 - Freedom of religion) read in the light of Article 11 - (Art. 11) Freedom of assembly and association (Article 11-1 - Freedom of association);Non-pecuniary damage - finding of violation sufficient
Dmitry Dedov;Elisabeth Steiner;Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre;Julia Laffranque;Khanlar Hajiyev;Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska;Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque
4. On 21 November 1991 the Chuvash Christian mission “Voice of Truth” was registered as a religious organisation under the RSFSR Religions Act of 25 October 1990. It belonged to the Pentecostal movement of the Christian faith. 5. On 24 November 1998, in connection with the enactment of a new Religions Act of 26 September 1997, the organisation was renamed the Biblical Centre of the Evangelical (Pentecostal) Christians of the Chuvash Republic (Библейский Центр Чувашской Республики Христиан веры евангельской (пятидесятников)). 6. Under paragraph 2.2 of the organisation’s articles of association, one of the activities of the Biblical Centre was the establishment of educational institutions for training clergymen, organising conferences and seminars and lecturing. To that end the Biblical Centre had the right to found institutions of professional religious education, spiritual educational institutions, including Sunday schools for youth and children, and to establish non-commercial organisations pursuing educational aims (paragraph 2.3 of the articles). 7. On 20 January 1996 the Biblical Centre founded the Middle Volga Biblical College and a Sunday school, which were not registered as legal entities. 8. The Sunday school did not have any organised structure as such. It was held once a week as a means of keeping the children of parishioners occupied while the adults attended the religious service. Parents took turns to spend time with the children, to read and discuss the Bible with them. The school was free of charge and did not employ any staff. 9. The Biblical College recruited students from religious organisations belonging into the same Pentecostal denomination but located in different regions of Russia. Students were trained as evangelical attendants, pastors, preachers, missionaries, Sunday school teachers, preceptors, biblical signers for the deaf, and youth leaders. The subjects taught at the College included theology (dogma), exegesis (interpretation of religious texts), homiletics (the study of preparation and delivery of sermons), apologetics (defence of the Christian faith), history of Christianity, basics of pedagogy, theory of music, memorisation, and others. Upon completion of a training course, students obtained a document, referred to as a “diploma”, which certified training in particular subjects. Education at the College was free of charge. 10. In April and May 2007 the Novocheboksarsk town prosecutor, together with the Novocheboksarsk Fire Inspection Service and the Consumer Protection Service, conducted an inspection of the applicant organisation’s premises with the declared aim of verifying its compliance with the requirements of the legislation on education, freedom of conscience and religious associations. The grounds for the inspection were not revealed. 11. On 2 May 2007 the town prosecutor requested the director of the Biblical Centre to provide, within two days, detailed information about the activities of the Sunday school and Biblical College, including a list of subjects taught and the names of the teachers and all students, both past and present. 12. On 10 May 2007 the State Fire Inspection Service issued a formal note establishing the following violations of fire safety regulations: (a) the windows of the premises were equipped with solid metal bars; (b) an automatic fire alarm with smoke detectors was not installed; (c) fire-safety signs were absent. 13. By letter of 11 May 2007, the Consumer Protection Service reported the following violations to the town prosecutor: (a) students were not provided with comfortable work stations adapted to their height, sight and hearing; rudimentary benches were used instead; (b) walls were covered with paper-based wallpaper which could not be wiped clean; (c) linoleum on the floor did not offer sufficient protection against the cold; (d) windows were decorated with flowers in pots; (e) doors in the toilets for children of both sexes did not have locks; there was no personal-hygiene room for girls; (f) the staff did not have a separate toilet; (g) descriptions of course content, methodical literature and timetables did not refer to hygienic requirements; (h) the delivery and composition of students’ meals had not been agreed upon with the Consumer Protection Service. 14. All the violations were established by reference to the State-approved hygienic standards binding on institutions of public education and vocational training. 15. On 28 May 2007 the town prosecutor instituted administrative proceedings against the director of the Biblical Centre for allowing the Centre to conduct educational activities without authorisation (a licence), an offence under Article 19.20 § 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences. On 10 July 2007 the Justice of the Peace of the 4th Court Circuit of Novocheboksarsk heard the charge and found the director guilty of that offence. The Justice found, in particular, as follows: “The Novocheboksarsk prosecutor’s office inspected [the Centre] and discovered that the educational process [there] follows a specific educational programme and class schedule and is carried out by staff teachers in exchange for pay. Students’ knowledge of subjects is evaluated on a five-point scale or with pass-fail marks; upon completion of a course students obtain a diploma ... These elements indicate that the Biblical Centre engages in educational activities which are not listed in its articles of association ... The Education Act (law no. 3266-I of 10 July 1992) defines education as the purposeful process of upbringing and learning in the interests of the individual, society and the State, accompanied by the confirmation of achievement of the educational levels established by the State ... Pursuant to section 17 § 1 of the Education Act, an educational institution acquires the right to conduct educational activities upon receipt of authorisation (a licence)... As the materials in the case file show, the Centre has no such licence ...” 16. The Justice rejected the director’s argument that the activities of the Centre fell outside the scope of the definition contained in the Education Act, holding that the definition “may not be used to describe educational activities that are carried out in breach of the Education Act”. The director was sentenced to pay a fine of 10,000 Russian roubles. 17. In his statement of appeal, the director pointed out that the Education Act established specific educational levels (basic and intermediate general education, basic, intermediate and higher professional education, and post-graduate professional education), none of which were mentioned in the Centre’s programmes or diplomas. The religious instruction and guidance of followers fell outside the scope of the Education Act and were not subject to any licensing requirements. 18. On 31 July 2007 the Novocheboksarsk Town Court upheld the Justice’s decision in a summary fashion, without addressing the director’s arguments in detail. 19. In concurrent proceedings, on 10 July 2007 the same Town Court found the applicant organisation liable for the administrative offence of violating sanitary rules and hygienic requirements in respect of all the points identified by the State Fire Inspection Service and the Consumer Protection Service. The Town Court issued a warning to the applicant organisation. 20. On 2 August 2007 the Supreme Court of the Chuvash Republic summarily rejected the applicant organisation’s statement of appeal, in which it maintained that the sanitary standards binding on State educational institutions were not applicable to the Sunday school and Biblical college. 21. On 28 May 2007 the Novocheboksarsk town prosecutor filed a claim for dissolution of the Biblical Centre. He rested his claim on the findings of the two inspections, as described above, and the allegation of illegality of the educational activities conducted at the Biblical College and Sunday school. In his submission, such activities “violated the right of an indeterminate group of people to receive education in conditions that guarantee security, improvement of health and counter the negative influence of unhealthy factors”. 22. In his comments on the prosecutor’s application, the director of the Biblical Centre submitted that the applicant organisation merely dispensed religious instruction to its followers and did not provide formal education. He invited the court to reject the application and pointed out that the court could issue a separate decision ordering the Biblical Centre to bring its activities into conformity with the requirements of the law. He indicated that, in response to the prosecutor’s claims, the Centre had promptly adopted the Rules on lecture- and seminar-based education, as a result of which it had eliminated the use of ambiguous terminology such as “college”, “diploma”, and others. 23. The town prosecutor participated in the hearing on 3 August 2007. Responding to questions from the director of the Biblical Centre, he admitted that the initial inspection had purported to uncover elements of extremism in the Centre’s activities and that he had filed a claim for dissolution because “it was within his competence”. 24. A representative of the Federal Registration Service, the entity in charge of the registration of religious organisations, took part in the proceedings as a third party. She stated that there were 270 registered religious organisations in the Chuvash Republic. When asked by counsel whether those organisations had licences for their Sunday schools, she replied that the majority of them were Orthodox parishes which were entitled to carry out such activities under the provisions of the “standard Orthodox statute”. 25. On 3 August 2007 the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the applicant organisation and its removal from the State Register of Legal Entities. Having examined documents from the archive of the Middle Volga Biblical College, it acknowledged that some of the College’s activities had been one-time seminars and conferences to which the licensing requirement did not apply. However, the organisational chart of the Biblical College, the class schedule, work contracts with teachers, lists of students and diplomas issued to them were held by the Supreme Court to be evidence of ongoing educational activities in the College for which it should have obtained authorisation (a licence). Neither the Biblical Centre nor the Biblical College were registered as an educational institution, nor had they obtained a licence for conducting educational activities. Accordingly, they had acted in breach of the requirements of section 33 of the Education Act and section 19 of the Religions Act. 26. With regard to the Sunday school, the Supreme Court found that the contents and nature of religious education dispensed to children may be determined by the religious organisation providing it. Nevertheless, the material conditions of religious education should be compatible with sanitary and hygienic standards and other requirements applicable to educational institutions. The Supreme Court held that the above-mentioned judgments of 10 and 31 July 2007, which had acquired the force of res judicata, were sufficient proof of both the fact that the Biblical College dispensed education without the required licence, and the fact that the conditions in which students were educated at the Sunday school and the Biblical College fell short of the sanitary standards. 27. The Supreme Court held that the educational activities conducted by the applicant organisation without a licence amounted to a “gross and repeated violation” of the requirements of the Education Act and Religions Act and ordered its dissolution on the basis of Article 61 § 2 of the Civil Code and section 14 § 1 of the Religions Act. 28. On 16 October 2007 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, sitting as a three-judge panel composed of Judges Kn. (President), P. and B., dismissed the applicant organisation’s appeal against the dissolution decision, rejecting its arguments in a summary fashion.