by Massimo Introvigne
When Petr Pavel was inaugurated as the new President of the Czech Republic in March 2023, he vowed to align the country with European Union human rights standards. He also emerged as a staunch critic of the human rights violations in Russia. Some developments with respect to small minority religions were in fact regarded by local human rights activists as hopeful.
However, these hopes have now been shattered by an unprecedented move by the Czech Ministry of Culture. It appears that the Czech Republic still maintains among its laws a statute on “religious freedom” dated January 7, 2002, which includes some draconian Russian-style, or perhaps Soviet-style, provisions on the “liquidation” of religious organizations. According to this law, “a church is formed as a legal entity by registration” (article 6.1). Registration can be denied and, once obtained, can be lost, including if the church’s activity are deemed to be “in violation of the law” (article 22.1.c).
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