Religion – Weltanschauung – Recht [ RWR ]

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Hamidović v. Bosnia and Herzegovina (application no. 57792/15) the European Court of Human Rights held, by six votes to one, that there had been: a violation of Article 9 (freedom of religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights. In 2012 Mr Hamidović, a witness in a criminal trial, was expelled from the courtroom, convicted of contempt of court and fined for refusing to remove his skullcap. The Court found that there had been nothing to indicate that Mr Hamidović had been disrespectful during the trial. Punishing him with contempt of court on the sole ground that he had refused to remove his skullcap, a religious symbol, had not therefore been necessary in a democratic society and had breached his fundamental right to manifest his religion. Den Rest des Beitrags lesen

The applicant, Husmet Hamidović, is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian citizen who was born in 1976 and lives in Gornja Maoča (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The case concerns his refusal to remove his skullcap while giving evidence before the criminal court which was examining a case about the attack on the US embassy in Sarajevo in 2011. Den Rest des Beitrags lesen