European Court of Human Rights, Jehovah’s Witnesses of Moscow and Others v. Russia, no. 302/02, “Judgment (First Section), paras 109-113”

European Court of Human Rights, Jehovah’s Witnesses of Moscow and Others v. Russia, no. 302/02, “Judgment (First Section), paras 109-113”

10 June 2010 · paras 109-113 · European Court of Human Rights

“as long as self-dedication to religious matters is the product of the believer’s independent and free decision and however unhappy his or her family members may be about that decision, the ensuing estrangement cannot be taken to mean that the religion caused the break-up in the family.”

Para 110: 'The domestic courts did not give examples of any forceful or threatening action on the part of the applicant community calculated to break the families of its members apart.' The passage concerns complaints by non-Witness relatives of converts, not the shunning of ex-members; the Norwegian Supreme Court (2026, para 110) said the ECtHR had not, to its knowledge, ruled on shunning of former members.

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