Freedom of Religion in Moldova - Restrictions On Religious Freedom

Restrictions On Religious Freedom

See also: Moldovan Orthodox Church and Metropolis of Bessarabia

The Law on Religions contains restrictions that have inhibited the activities of unregistered religious groups, and the Government continued to deny registration to some religious groups.

Unregistered religious organizations are not permitted to buy land or obtain construction permits for churches or seminaries. In some cases, members of unregistered religious groups hold services in homes, nongovernmental organization (NGO) offices, and other locations. In other cases, the groups obtain property and permits in the names of individual members. Individual churches or branches of officially registered religious organizations are not obliged to register with local authorities; however,the local branch must register locally if it wants to make legal transactions as a legal body, including the ability to receive donations in its name.

Between the two autonomous Eastern Orthodox churches (Moldovan Orthodox Church belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church, and Metropolis of Bessarabia belonging to the Romanian Orthodox Church) there is an ongoing politically charged succession dispute, which, from an ecclesiastical point of view, is an administrative only issue (subject to canon laws), not a theological one, the two belonging respectively to two autocephalous Churches (of Russia and of Romania), which are within the Eastern Orthodox communion. Thus, in 2001, the Government declared the Moldovan Orthodox Church the successor of the pre-World War II Romanian Orthodox Church for purposes of all property ownership. The Metropolis of Bessarabia was reactivated in 1992 (after Moldova declared independence in 1991) when a number of priests broke away from the Moldovan Orthodox Church, and was only officially recognized in 2002, after years of being denied recognition. The dispute was brought in front of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which ruled in 2004 in favor of the Metropolis of Bessarabia as the "spiritual, canonical, historical successor of the Metropolitan See of Bessarabia which functioned till 1944, including". In February 2004, the Supreme Court repealed the Government's 2001 decision. In April 2004, in response to an appeal submitted by the Government, the Supreme Court rescinded its February ruling, making the Moldovan Orthodox Church once again the legal successor to the pre-World War II Romanian Orthodox Church. The Metropolis of Bessarabia, which regards itself as the legal and canonical successor to the pre-World War II Romanian Orthodox Church, being endorsed by the ECHR, does not accept this decision. The registration issue has political as well as religious overtones, since it raises the question of whether the Orthodox Church should be oriented toward the Moscow Patriarchate or the Bucharest Patriarchate.

In May 2002, after a long series of registration denials and legal appeals, the Supreme Court of Justice ruled that the Government must register the Church of the True Orthodox-Moldova, a branch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which is based in the United States. The State Service on Religious Issues failed to implement the decision in the stipulated 30 days and subsequently asked the Court for a 2-week extension to register the church. But after 3 weeks, instead of registering the church, the Service filed an extraordinary appeal with the Court of Appeals. The Court reviewed the appeal and declared that the Service was not allowed to file the appeal, since the case was made against the Government, not the Service. Within a couple of weeks another appeal from the Prime Minister was filed. In early 2004, the appeal was sent to the Supreme Court and was under examination at the end of the period covered by this report. The Church had submitted applications for registration in 1997, 1998, and 2000; the Government rejected these applications on various grounds.