10 European States join Italy to defend Crucifix

(June 02,2010) The "crucifix trial" in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, has given rise to an unprecedented intervention of 10 member States as third parties. This case was referred to the Grand Chamber, when the Italian government appealed a decision issued by the Second Section of the court last November, which spoke against the presence of the crucifix in classrooms. The 10 States, which are supporting Italy in the desire to overturn last November's decision are Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, San-Marino, Romania, and The Russian Federation. The third party status allows the States to submit to the Court their written and oral observations as official parties to the case. The Court's Grand Chamber will hold a public hearing on June 30, and the final judgment on the case is expected by the end of the year.
The director of the European Centre for Law and Justice, Gregor Puppinck, stated in a communiqué on Monday that this is an important precedent in the practice of the Court, because usually member States abstain from intervening, or intervene only when the case affects a national of their State. Those countries are now uniting their forces to protect their religious heritage and freedom, to reaffirm that the Christian symbols have a natural right to be displayed in public within Christian countries, he added.