Bekir-Ousta and Others v. Greece, No. 35151/05, ECtHR (First Section), 11 October 2007

Judicial refusal to register an association on the basis of mere suspicion about its real intentions to represent a religious or ethnic minority.

Art. 11 ECHR

1. Even assuming that the true aim of an association is to spread the idea that there is an ethnic minority whose rights are not fully respected, that alone does not amount to a threat to democratic society, especially when there is nothing in the articles of association to suggest that its members advocate the use of violence or antidemocratic or anti-constitutional methods.

2. Had the association been registered, the national judiciary would not have been powerless, since it could have ordered its dissolution if it were subsequently to pursue an aim other than that specified in its articles of association, or if its functioning proved to be contrary to law, morality or public order.
(Case regarding the national courts’ refusal to register an association set up by the members of the Muslim minority in Western Thrace, on the grounds of the doubt as to whether it intended to represent a religious minority or, against the domestic law, an ethnic minority living in Greece).

The European Court unanimously held that the refusal to register the applicants’ association violates Article 11 of the Convention.