The compatibility of the 8 September 2022 amendments to the Law on the Latvian Orthodox Church with the freedom of religion enshrined in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights

Abstract

The law “Amendments to the Law of the Latvian Orthodox Church” was adopted on 8 September 2022 by the Parliament of Latvia. The Law, among other things, stipulates that this “law fully establishes the autocephalous status of the Latvian Orthodox Church”, and it means that this Church “with all its dioceses, parishes and institutions is completely independent of any church authority outside Latvia” and that the Head of the Church “is independent of any church power outside of Latvia”. The legal challengers concerning the Law itself and possibilities of a due implementation of this law. Many sources in Latvia and outside Latvia have evaluated this law as restricting the freedom of religion as the human right in terms of manifestation of this right by the Latvian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox believers being members of this Church. Therefore, the author has found this law to be a subject that is truly worth of considerate legal analysis by assessing the challenging aspects from the point of view of the human right, the freedom of religion. The assessment is based on the interpretation of Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights by the European Court of Human Rights considering the wide range of its case-law.