ECLJ Wins Another Religious Liberty Case at the European Court of Human Rights

July 26, 2007

(Strasbourg, France)—The European Court of Human Rights today announced its decision in the case of Schmidt and Others v. France, finding violations by the French government of Article 6 §1 (right to a fair trial) and Article 6 § 1 taken in conjunction with Article 13 (Right to an Effective Remedy). The case is the first successful judgment against the French government with regards to abuse of the French Sect law.

The European Centre for Law and Justice, legal counsel for the Schmidt’s, see the victory as just the beginning with regard to challenges to the misuse of the sect law by the French government. ECLJ has a second challenge pending at the Court regarding discrimination of an Evangelical Church in Besancon.

The facts of the case surround the Schmidt family membership to an Evangelical Bible Church near Versailles. The French government placed the church on its French Sect list after receiving unsubstantiated allegations of fundamentalism from a third party NGO which is reputed for making such allegations. Based on these allegations, Victoria, the daughter of the Schmidt’s was taken from the family and put into custodial care despite the fact that overwhelming evidence showed that the Schmidt’s were good parents including character affidavits from neighbours, friends, family, members of the church and the family paediatrician who deemed the parents to be exemplary. ECLJ also contended that the education measures argument used by the French authorities to remove Victoria from the home were both clearly prejudicial since Victoria was not of school attending age and discriminatory because of the argument that being brought up in the evangelical faith was worthy of removal from the home. ECLJ also filed the mission statement and bylaws of the church as evidence that the church believed and followed mainstream evangelical principles and doctrine. Despite this, and efforts on behalf of the family from high ranking E.U. officials and the New Zealand government, of which Mrs. Schmidt was a national, the family was not even allowed contact with their daughter for five years. Upon changing the venue of the custody hearing to the United Kingdom, within a month custody was granted back to the Schmidt family.

ECLJ contended that the entire process of taking the Schmidt’s child into custody and the subsequent five year separation was tainted by the allegations that the Schmidt’s were members of a sect. The Court held on the merits that the Schmidt’s rights under the European Convention of Human Rights had been violated because of procedural irregularities and the length of time it took for reunification, thus violating both their rights to a fair trial and rights to an effective remedy.