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Restitution of a Greek-Catholic Church in Ocna Mures
Evenimentul zilei online (22.11.2002)/ HRWF Int. (19.12.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email info@hrwf.net - The Supreme Court ruled that the Greek-Catholic church from Ocna Mures (a city in Transylvania), confiscated by communist authorities in 1948, must be restituted to its original owner.
Since 1990 the members of the Greek-Catholic religion tried to get it back in different ways . The case was taken to court. A first instance court rejected the Greek-Catholics' claim but the appellate court gave them satisfaction. The case went to the Supreme Court, which finally ruled in favor of the Greek-Catholics.
In its appellate brief, the Romanian Orthodox Church argued that the church shouldn't be given back to its original owner because in the area there are now more Orthodox believers than Greek-Catholics.. Moreover, according to the law, the situation of the former Greek-Catholic churches and other proprieties is regulated by a commission where members of both religions are represented.
The attorney for the Greek-Catholics showed the Court a document issued by the commission saying that "With Christian love, we refuse to give back the church".
The Supreme Court's decision cannot be appealed. However, the Romanian Orthodox Church said they will file a petition for annulment of the decision with the General Prosecutor. According to the Romanian Code of Proceedings, such a request is only admissible when serious judicial errors have been committed. The decision is also taken by the Supreme Court.
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Draft law on religious liberty by the end of the year
On June 10, 2002, HRWF went to Bucharest and met with Laurentiu D. Tanase, Secretary of State for Religious Affairs, interviewing him on the future of relations between the state and religions in Romania as well as on the cult issue.
Mr. Tanase completed his studies on the sociology of religions in France.
HRWF International Secretariat (02.07.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net
HRWF : Mr. Tanase, since the fall of Ceaucescu in December of 1989, Romania has lived under a regime of communist legislation in religious matters.
Laurentiu D. Tanase : You are right, and I fully regret this situation. This legislation, which recognizes fourteen religions, is now unsuitable and has become inapplicable as such. A draft law has been rejected by the parliament and has been largely criticized abroad, even in an amended form. For the last twelve years, the situation has been blocked and I do well have the intention of unblocking it. Moreover, I can count on the total support of our Prime Minister. A draft law should be ready by the end of the year.
HRWF : Can you guarantee that the new religious law will respect minority religions?
Laurentiu D. Tanase : I want to be completely sincere. The new law will be very democratic and in harmony with the European Convention of Human Rights. I want to respect the prestige of the majority religion at the same time as excluding all forms of discrimination with regard to other religions. The law will not be very detailed. It will be short and will evoke the grand principles that should orient religious life.
HRWF : In what measure do you think you will be able to call together a consensus around this law?
Laurentiu D. Tanase : The Secretary of State for Religious Affairs will consult with the representatives of diverse religions in Romania and with foreign experts. After considering their opinions, the Secretary of State for Religious Affairs will submit the draft law to various organizations for the defense and promotion of religious liberty, such as yours, as well as the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and other intergovernmental organizations.
HRWF : The cult issue has sometimes been raised in Romania. From what angle do you plan to approach this question?
Laurentiu D. Tanase : Recently, a Romanian television station interviewed a selection of people off the street to find out what the word ? cult ? brought to mind for them. Baptists, Evangelicals, Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses were the names that recurred most often. What to do? I am for the organization of conferences and colloquia that would contribute to interdenominational dialogue and to better relations between the state and religions. I am in effect convinced that dialogue leads to tolerance. We don't want to stigmatize religious groups that have been called ? cults.?
HRWF : On that point, I have a question about Jehovah's Witnesses. The Supreme Court has declared that they are a religion, but as the Secretariat of State has not informed the various state administrations about this decision through a circular, the Ministry of Defence and other state agencies have not taken that decision into consideration. For example, JW religious ministers are not automatically exempted from military service as Orthodox priests are, and they are sentenced to (suspended) prison terms. Why have you not yet issued such a circular, and when do you plan to do so? Greece has been involved in a quite similar problem and lost its case before the European Court in Strasbourg. It would be damaging to your image and the image of Romania to get into a similar situation before your entry into the EU.
Laurentiu D. Tanase : It is a bit difficult to give a brief answer to this question. Since 1990, after the fall of the totalitarian communist regime, religious life in Romania has started to adopt the normal pace of a modern democratic society. As a result, many associations with religious aims have been granted legal recognition in order for them to enjoy freedom without ideological and political restrictions. Among these associations, we can point to the "Church of the Latter-Day Saints" (the Mormons), the Baha'is, Jehovah's Witnesses and so on. Hundreds of missionaries from various countries and denominations have been able to come to Romania, and dozens of prayer houses have been built throughout the country.
Besides religious associations, in Romania, a number of religions enjoy the legal status called "recognized religion" C the Romanian word is "culte". They are in fact "historical" churches. They enjoy some fiscal facilities and are entitled to receive financial support from the Romanian State. Among them is the Romanian Orthodox Church, whose believers make up 86.6% of the country's total population, the Catholic Church, the Protestant and Evangelical Free Churches, and the Muslim and the Jewish Communities.
Jehovah's Witnesses have settled quite recently in Romania but they have wanted to change their legal status from a religious organization to that of a "recognized religion" in order to enjoy all the legal benefits presently granted to the historical churches. However, according to prevailing Romanian legislation on religious life, there are a series of conditions that have to be fulfilled in order to change the legal status of a denomination, some of which the Jehovah's Witnesses do not comply with. Still, the Supreme Court of Justice decided to declare them a "recognized religion." Nevertheless, without questioning the correctness of this judicial decision, it must be said that its enforcement does have serious implications, especially in the economic, financial and social fields, with ramifications even for the state budget. That is why the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs has drawn up an administrative act for enforcing the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice. This act is currently in the course of being approved by the Romanian Ministry of Finance. This act will then to be approved by other ministries as well and is to be discussed in government session.
The Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs is making all efforts towards the normalization of this situation, and we believe that it will soon be solved.
Material collected from the Secretary of State for Religious Affairs in Bucharest on June 10, 2002, and completed by e-mail on July 1, 2002.
Willy Fautr, Human Rights Without Frontiers
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Controversy over restitution of religious places of worship and buildings
Romania's Catholic Church demands return of property seized under communism
AP (15.06.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (24.06.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Romania's Eastern Rite Catholic Church on Saturday demanded the return of property seized by the communists.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and Culture Minister Razvan Theodorescu, Bishop Lucian, who heads the Romanian Eastern Rite Catholics, called on Parliament to "urgently" adopt a solution that would allow "for the return of (church) property abusively confiscated and now in the hands of the state."
The church wants the return of all property including churches, libraries, real estate, parish houses, land and other assets which were confiscated in 1948 by the communists, a letter faxed to The Associated Press said.
A ban on the church was lifted after the 1989 anti-communist revolt, but there has been little restitution of property and suspicions remain between the majority Orthodox Church and the Catholics.
The Eastern Rite Catholics, with communities in Romania and Ukraine, adhere to Orthodox traditions but hold allegiance to the pope. Many Orthodox clerics see this as a deliberate encroachment on their territory.
Earlier this month, Pope John Paul II called for Romania to hand back Eastern Rite Catholic real estate. The communists banned the Eastern Rite Catholics because its believers professed loyalty to a foreign power the pope.
Responding to the pope, Romania's President Ion Iliescu said the state is unable to force the restitution of Catholic Church property, claiming only local worshippers can decide the ownership of a church.
In 1948, authorities seized almost 2,500 churches and other property from the Catholics and handed them to the Orthodox Church. Since the ban on the church was lifted in 1989, just 120 of the 2,500 churches have been handed back, according to official statistics.
The Catholics claimed Saturday that just nine churches have been handed back.
"We ask for the discrimination against us to stop and for a rapid, peaceful and fair solution to be found," the letter said.
Almost 90 percent of Romania's 23 million people are Orthodox, whereas those professing to belong to the Eastern Rite Catholic church have shrunk to 230,000.
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Position of the Romanian Government with regard to the message of the Pope on the restitution of Greek-Catholic churches
By Augustin Varnav for Human Rights Without Frontiers
HRWF International Secretariat (24.06.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Upon a request by Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, the Minister of Culture and Religions (MCR) analyzed the status of the restitution process of former properties of the Catholic Churches (Greek Catholic and Catholic).
The conclusion of the MCR is that the matter was closed, because restitution was in process. According to the MCR, between 1945 and 1989, almost 2000 buildings were confiscated from the Catholic Churches, but after 1989 several statutes were enacted that facilitated restitution or regulating the provision of compensation for losses. The MCR points out that following several meetings of the Mixed Committee for Orthodox-Greek-Catholic Dialogue, about 160 churches, including three cathedrals, were given back to the Greek-Catholic Church.
Due to the fact that many Greek-Catholic believers who were forced to join the Orthodox Church after 1948 decided to remain Orthodox even after 1990, the MCR believes that a complete restitution would infringe upon the right to freedom of religion for many believers.
This is the Romanian government's response to the request made by Pope John Paul II to speed up the process of restitution.
However, priest Mircea Martian, who is spokesperson for the Cluj Greek-Catholic Diocese, thinks that the government speaks only a partial truth. He points out that the Greek-Catholic Church doesn't want all the churches "tomorrow," and he agrees that in places where there is only one church, services should be performed alternately by the Orthodox and Greek-Catholics. Furthermore, he stated that the result of the negotiations of the Mixed Committee was the restitution of six churches and not 160
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Restitution of religious buildings to the Greek Catholic Church: Official position of the State Secretary on Religious Affairs
On June 10, 2002, Human Rights Without Frontiers met in Bucharest Mr Laurentiu D. Tanase, State Secretary for Religious Affairs, and interviewed him among other things on the situation of Greek-Catholics in Romania.
HRWF: Mr Tanase, it seems that all the litigants involved in the disagreement between the Greek-Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church have not been able to resolve the problem of the restitution of religious buildings of which the ownership is contested.
Tanase: The state has guaranteed the restitution of buildings of which it became owner by confiscation under the Communist regime. With regard to the real estate and movable property of which the state is not the owner, a Mixed Commission for Dialogue has been created to permit the two Churches concerned to come to an agreement. This Commission is independent of the State. I think all the same that the two parties have somewhat exaggerated the problem. Before World War II, there were 1.5 million Greek-Catholic believers for 16 million inhabitants, and one Greek-Catholic church for every 600 worshippers. In the 1990's, there were, according to the national census, 230,000 Greek-Catholics for 23 million inhabitants, and one church for every 650 worshippers.
HRWF: There remains nevertheless a point of contention. In Oradea, for example.
Tanase: In effect, the Orthodox archbishop still occupies a church that contains Greek-Catholic tombs in its basements. I asked the Orthodox archbishop to show some tolerance by restituting the church to the Greek-Catholic community. The Orthodox Church is currently building a cathedral in Oradea. I am ready to have my department make a financial contribution to accelerate the construction of this cathedral and to restitute the contested church to the Greek-Catholics.
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The Greek-Catholic Church lodges complaints
with the European Court in Strasbourg
The Greek-Catholic church of Saint Vasile Polona vs. Romania
Fact situation and internal procedures
The claimant is a Greek-Catholic Church, Saint Vasile Polona, which was established on August 15, 1990 by the Greek-Catholic believers of Bucharest. The Greek-Catholic denomination was outlawed in Decree nr.358/1948, and this interdiction on the Church was abrogated by Decree-Law nr.9/1989. After 1989, several Greek-Catholic parishes were established, including the one in Bucharest (the contested property).
In February 1992, the claimant commenced legal action to obtain the church, the parish's house and connected land on Polona Street nr.50, for which it has had all title deeds ever since 1892. As Decree nr. 358/1948 exempted the assets of the Greek-Catholic parishes from nationalization, the claimant considered never having lost the title deed and asked the court for eviction of the current occupant, an Orthodox church.
The trial started in February 1992 at the Court of sector 1 of Bucharest and has not ended so far (after 9 years), even though it has gone throught the trial levels of first instance - appeal - appeal, several times. So far, all the court pronouncements that have emerged from this case have avoided judging its substance, and the case has continually been declared as subject to exceptions that end up denying the appellant justice.
For instance, it was said that the appellant did not have the right to come to court because the believers of Saint Vasile Polona parish belong mostly to the Orthodox denomination (in the sense that more Orthodox believers live in the houses round the church than Greek-Catholic). The courts also said that this case exceeds the scope of the judiciary, and that the only authority to decide on this was a joint commission consisting of the two sides in litigation. Judicial procedures continued with the Bucharest Court, after the Court of Appeal rejected an appeal in this last exception, asserting the competence of the courts.
While the eviction trial was taking place, the appellant started another trial in July 2000. In this trial the courts also decided that they were not competent to judge the case, invoking the competence of the joint Orthodox-Greek-Catholic dialogue commission. At present this file is in appeal at the Supreme Court of Justice.
The Greek-Catholic believers of Bucharest, deprived of use of this parish since its reestablishment nine years ago, cannot have religious services in their own church. Religious services are performed in a rented space between certain hours and on certain days of the week, and to support them the Greek-Catholic believers pay a contribution in money.
The procedure before the European Court of Human Rights
In January 2001 the appellant addressed the European Court, claiming infringement of the rights guaranteed in articles 6, 9, 13, 14 of the European Human Rights Convention and Article 1 of Protocol 1 additional to the Convention.
The appellant claimed a violation of article 6, which guarantees the right to an equitable trial in four distinct situations: the length of judicial procedures (nine years - and Romania ratified the Convention seven years ago); denial of the applicant's right to have access to justice; the lack of impartiality of the national courts as well as the superficiality and negligence of the courts in transcripting the oral debates.
As for the violation of Article 1 of Protocol 1, the appellant pointed to the court's refusal to restitute use of property. In this context, the claimant charged that the national authorities did not observe Resolution 1123 (1997) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which asked Romania to solve the problem of the restitution of the confiscated assets, including and especially to the church.
Charging violation of freedom of belief, guaranteed in Article 9, the Greek-Catholic parish asserted that by depriving them of the use of their place of worship, the right of the Greek-Catholic believers to free exercise of religion has not been and is still not being respected. The believers cannot perform religious services in their own church and are forced to attend religious services in a church that belongs to another religious denomination and for which they must support with personal financial contributions. The Greek-Catholic believers in Bucharest are being taken advantage of for their religious minority status, which has been used against them by the national courts and the majority church. Another consequence of these facts is the impossibility to organize and conduct religious education for the youth, for which it is necessary to have a flexible timeframe and space. In time these elements could lead to a decrease in the number of believers, because the appellant parish cannot offer normal religious and education services.
The appellant further asserted that the rights to an equitable trial and to the free use of property were violated also for reasons that involve religious discrimination in relation to the majority religion in Romania, contrary to Article 14 of the European Human Rights Convention.
The repeated invocation of the nature of a religious minority of the appellant, the explicit or implicit denial of access to justice, the refusal to judge the merits of the case, the excessive duration of judicial procedures and the lack of an impartial attitude on the part of the national courts are elements which prove religious discrimination to which the Greek-Catholic parish was and still is subject. The very criteria of the majority - opposed to the status of minority religion of the appellant - that has been invoked by the courts, is evidence of religious discrimination against the Greek-Catholic church.
Claiming the right to effective remedies, guaranteed by Article 13, the applicant asserted that it has not had at its disposal real and effective internal remedies for correcting infringements of its rights guaranteed by The European Human Rights Convention, as charged in its complaint. This infringement continues at present - as do all the other claimed infringements. Even in the unlikely event that the appellant obtain a favorable court ruling, the violations it has suffered cannot be remedied and compensated for according to domestic law.
At present, the complaint of the Greek-Catholic parish of Saint Vasile Polona is on trial at the European Court, where it is registered nr. 65965/2001. After the complaint was filed, the Court was informed by the appellant's representative that internal procedures have changed, which continues the series of claimed infringements.
The Greek-Catholic parish Sambata-Bihor vs. Romania
The claimant is the Greek-Catholic Parish of Sambata, in the county of Bihor, which started legal action for the restitution of the Greek-Catholic church in the Sambata commune, now occupied by the Orthodox Church in the locality. The claimant went to the courts asking for a decision that would allow services in the contested church to alternate between Greek Catholic and Orthodox.
In October 1996, the Beius Court admitted the application regarding alternating services, a solution determined by the Bihor Court in May 1997. Presiding over the appeal by the Orthodox parish, which permanently opposed alternating services, in January 1998 the Oradea Court of Appeal dismissed the two rulings and rejected the action brought by the claimant as inadmissible. The Court of Appeal argued that the courts do not have the authority to judge such litigation, which could only be solved by a joint commission consisting of the representatives from the two religious denominations, referring to the provisions of Decree-Law nr.126/1990. The decision of the Oradea Court of Appeal is final and irrevocable.
The procedures before the European Court of Human Rights
The appellant took the case to the European Court, claiming that the ruling of the Oradea Court of Appeal violated rights guaranteed in Articles 6 and 9 of the European Human Rights Convention.
The claimant asserted that the final decision denying authority of the courts on this issue was in actuality a denial of justice. Obviously, a commission consisting of the very parties in litigation cannot be considered an independent and impartial court in the sense intended by Article 6 of the Convention.
Further on, the claimant stated that the refusal of the Oradea Court of Appeal to judge the application regarding alternating religious services breached the freedom of faith of the Greek-Catholic believers in the parish, thus violating the Article 9 guarantee.
The complaint of the appellant was registered at the European Court as nr. 48107/1999 and on September 18, 2001 was communicated to Romania's government. The observation of the government was sent to the claimant and its representative on December 18, 2001, and the parish's answer to the Government's assertions was to be drafted accordingly.
Source: Annual Report of the Romanian Helsinki Committee (2001)
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Romanian president : state cannot interfere in the restitution of Catholic churches
AP (03.06.2002)/HRWF International Secretariat (05.06.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net -President Ion Iliescu said Monday the state was unable to force the restitution of Catholic Church property seized by the Communists.
Iliescu was responding to a request by Pope John Paul II on Saturday for Romania to hand back Eastern Rite Catholic churches, confiscated in 1948 when the Communists came to power and banned the Eastern Rite because its believers professed loyalty to a foreign power the pope.
Authorities seized almost 2,500 churches then from the Catholics and handed them to the Orthodox Church. The ban was lifted after communism ended in 1989 but only about 120 of the 2,500 churches have been handed back.
"The state cannot interfere in restituting churches to the Catholic Church," said Iliescu, adding that handing back Catholic property, "is a bit more complicated because the state cannot interfere in the church hierarchy."
Speaking at a conference regarding the role of churches in Romania's drive to join NATO and the European Union, Iliescu said that while the Vatican could decide the fate of its property, according to Orthodox rules, only local worshipers could decide ownership of a church.
Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, however, said Monday that Parliament might adopt draft legislation the fall regarding the return of church property seized by the Communists.
Almost 90 percent of Romania's 23 million are Orthodox, whereas those professing to belong to the Eastern Rite Catholic church have shrunk to about 1 percent.
John Paul visited Romania in 1999 the first Roman Catholic pontiff to come to a mainly Orthodox country since the Eastern church broke from Rome in the Great Schism of 1054. He has since visited several other mainly Orthodox countries but has yet to visit Russia.
The pope has made reconciliation among Christians a priority for the start of Christianity's third millennium.
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7th Day Adventists on the relationship between church and state
Religious Life (01.06.2002)/HRWF International Secretariat (05.06.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Pastor Viorel Dima, professor at the Institute of Adventist Theology in Bucharest, presented the view of the 7th Day Adventist Church on the appropriate relationship between church and state at an international colloquium on this subject, held in Cluj-Napoca on May 10-11, 2002.
"The 7th Day Adventists are strong supporters of the separation of church and state," said Dima. "In the opinion of our Church, this separation is often tested wherever money is involved. Any legislation that unites the church and the state undermines human rights, as it has a potential persecution by its very nature, being against the interest both of the church and the state. Therefore, the promulgation of such laws should not be up to any human authority."
The 7th Day Adventists believe that it is their duty to use any legal and honorable means to prevent promulgation of legislation that promotes church-state unity. Because church-state separation is the general rule in Romania, the 7th Day Adventists are not subsidized by the state except for wages paid to teachers of non-religious subjects at Adventist high schools, and for construction fees.
In Article 29 of the Romanian Constitution, which creates the constitutional framework for expression of religious freedom, there is no mention either of a principle of church-state separation or one of equality between religious groups. However, Dima pointed out that even though paragraph 5 (proclaiming autonomy for religious groups with regard to the state) promotes church-state separation, the last part of the same paragraph states that the government has an obligation to give the necessary support to religious groups. At the same time, paragraph 4 provides for freedom of religion and allows for full liberty of organizing internal controls within religious groups.
There is as of yet no law explicitly guaranteeing religious rights and freedom, although such a bill exists unpassed. Although there are some who believe that there is a legislative void with regard to religion that needs to be filled, the 7th Day Adventists do not think so. Aside from the aforementioned Constitutional stipulations about religion and international pacts and treaties to which Romania is a party (which have been integrated into national law), only certain aspects of religious life are regulated, and those only partially. These include regulations concerning education and the army, prevention of public disturbances by religious groups, prevention of any form of discrimination, authorization of places of worship, and religious assistance in prisons.
After 1989, the Romanian Orthodox Church, with the support of several other religious groups officially recognized by the Romanian state, initiated discussions with the Ministry for National Education, the State Secretary for Religious Affairs, and other state institutions, asking for the re-introduction of religious education in schools. As a result, religion has become part of the general curriculum in primary school, middle school, high school, and professional education. Thus, pupils are required to study religion, but they can choose which one, with the approval of their parents or teachers. There are some instances in which minority religions are not able to teach such classes, as some county inspectors do not accredit religious teachers for their respective confessions. However, complaints about this issue, which go to the National Association for Defending Religious Freedom "Conscience and Freedom" (of which Mr. Viorel Duma is the president), have occurred with less and less frequency as of late.
Generally, 7th Day Adventist children were permitted by school authorities to not attend classes on Saturdays, as long as they made up the missed classes.
There were more objections by religious groups to regulations concerning the actual curriculum than those concerning procedure or opportunities to provide religious education. Such regulation has restricted churches to specific curriculum for training people for religious positions or social missionary activity. This limitation has affected the number of pupils who become faithful members of the religion.
In the current school year, the Ministry for Education and Research met with representatives of religious high schools and informed them that starting from the school year 2002-2003, the number of non-religious classes will be reduced. Because of a financial crisis that decreased the ranks of teachers, several religious high schools were told that the number of students would also be drastically reduced as well. Groups affected by these new regulations consider the step abusive, a new nationalization. The 7th Day Adventists, however, in the spirit of promoting church-state separation, believe that it is natural that schools integrated into the state educational system be part of the public domain.
The Ministry for National Defense continues to be the most receptive governmental body to the promotion of religious rights and freedoms. This Ministry has promoted regulations concerning exemption from military service for conscientious objection based on religion, if such religion is recognized by law and the objector is a confirmed member of the religion.
Although most young Adventists prefer to perform military service, some prefer alternative options of providing nonmilitary service. This latter option has not been firmly established with any regularity, but no one who has chosen it has thus far been required to perform military service.
Overall, asserted Pastor Viorel, relations between the 7th Day Adventist Church and the state authorities are very good, even if they are faced with certain problems.
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Opposition to church leaders considered criminal felony
By Augustin Varnav
On 23rd of January, the Appellate Court in Iasi, Romania, upheld a decision of the County Court House condemning a young nun for crying out her opinion regarding the leaders of the Romanian Orthodox Church, during the religious service.
On October 14 each year, in Iasi, Romania, the people celebrate the Saint Paraschiva, whose holly relics are inside the Metropolitan Cathedral. Being a very important Orthodox celebration, more than 600.000 pilgrims come to Iasi to take part in the event. So do the nuns from the Vladimiresti Monastery, well known for their criticism against the leaders of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Their criticism is based mostly on the attitude these leaders had towards the policy the former dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, and on the attitude they have now, being surrounded by luxury while preaching modesty and virtue.
Due to the fact that in previous years these nuns interrupted the religious ceremony by crying loud against the Patriarch and the Metropolitan, this year their access was forbidden inside the Cathedral for the whole duration of the celebrations (one week). Although the perimeter is public space and there was no court order to impose such a restriction on the freedom of movement, and there was a Government Ordinance forbidding any discrimination based on beliefs, the police didn't allow the sisters from Vladimiresti to enter the Cathedral.
Still, one of them managed to pass the security check. Once into the cathedral, she attended the church service. At one moment during the service, the priest asks the believers a rhetorical question, whether the leaders of the church are worthy of remembrance before God. Usually, no one answers this question, but Paula Bulgaru chose to cry loud: "No, they're not! Down with the Metropolitan Daniel! Down with the Bishop Cassian!" Almost immediately, civilian-like policemen took her out of the cathedral and into the police station.
After being held into the police station 24 hours for inquiry, the prosecutors issued a pre-trial arrest warrant for 5 days. The Metropolitan Church sent a letter to the Police asking that proper measure should be taken in order to avoid such attitudes in the future. After the media had a strong reaction, the judges decided that the arrest warrant is void, but the 18 year old girl already spent 4 days in prison. The trial finished extremely fast, which is unusual for Romanian justice system, given the fact that a judge has to deal with an average of 80 files per session. This fact allowed the media to speculate this trial was politically ordered.
Finally, the young Paula Bulgaru was convicted to a criminal fine of about 130 USD for public morals violation and obstructing people from practicing a religion, just because she cried out her beliefs. The amount was reduced to about 100 USD because of the days she spent in detention. The main proofs of the prosecution were the contradictory statements of three sisters who were somewhere near her when shy cried out.
This week the appeal to this decision was rejected, while everybody hoped for an acquittal. The lawyers defending Paula Bulgaru declared they will continue attacking the decision and they will even reach the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.
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The Greek Catholics sue the Romanian Orthodox Church for the Nicula Monastery
Evenimentul Zilei Online Newspaper (12.01.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (14.01.2002) - Website:http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net -The Greek Catholic Episcopacy of Cluj (a county in Romania) is suing the Orthodox Archiepiscopacy of the same region for a monastery which now belongs to Romanian Orthodox Church, but was taken from the Greek Catholic Church in 1948.
The discussion committee formed by the representatives of the two churches failed to discuss the problem of this monastery. Mircea Martian, the spokesman of the Greek Catholic Church, declared that the intention of the Romanian Orthodox Church is to demolish the monastery, while Orthodox officials declared they whish to restore it. In this respect, they have the support of the Prime Minister Adrian Nastase.
Nevertheless, the Area Monuments and Historic Sites Commission of Transilvanya denied authorization for the restoration project.
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