The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) unanimously ruled against Greece for violating human rights of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion by requiring all court participants to take an Orthodox Christian oath on a Bible.
The ECHR tried the cases of applicants Panayotis Dimitras, Theodoros Alexandridis, Nafsika Papanikolatou and Andrea Gilbert. The last applicant is a United States national and the other three are Greek nationals, who appeared on various dates between February 2006 and December 2007, as witnesses, complainants or suspects in criminal proceedings in Greece.
In conformity with Article 218 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, they were asked to take the oath by placing their right hands on the Bible. Each time, they informed the authorities that they were not Orthodox Christians and preferred to make a solemn declaration instead, which they were authorised to do.
The Court found that requiring the applicants to reveal their religious convictions in order to be allowed to make a solemn declaration had interfered with their freedom of religion according to Article 9, and that the interference was neither justified nor proportionate to the aim pursued.
The ECHR called the Greek government to comply to its ruling and alter the current legislative framework, so that similar violations can be avoided in the future.
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