International Religious Freedom Report 2010 (1)

The constitution provides for freedom of religion and other laws contributed to the generally free practice of religion.

The government generally respected religious freedom in practice; however, some restrictions adversely affected the rights of some religious groups. There was no major change in the status of respect for religious freedom by the government during the reporting period. Minority religious groups complained less frequently than in prior years that low-level government officials impeded their efforts at proselytizing and interfered with other religious activities. The government continued to differentiate between recognized and unrecognized religious groups, and registration and recognition requirements continued to pose obstacles to minority religious groups. Restitution of Greek Catholic properties seized by the communist-era government in 1948 and transferred to the Romanian Orthodox Church also remained a problem. The Orthodox Church announced plans to resume a dialogue with the Greek Catholic Church to resolve property and other disputes. The government continued to make progress in recognizing the history of the Holocaust in the country. Some minority religious groups continued to allege that local authorities created delays in granting construction permits based upon religion.

There were reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice. There were cases in which some Romanian Orthodox clergy showed hostility toward non-Orthodox church members, opposed the burial of believers of other religious groups in confessional or even public cemeteries, and criticized missionary activity. In general the Orthodox Church has been slow to return, and often has refused to return, Greek Catholic churches that it received in 1948.

The U.S. government discusses religious freedom with the government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The embassy continued to raise concerns with officials about the failure of the government to ensure the full restitution of religious properties and strongly encouraged the government's efforts to recognize the history of the Holocaust in the country.

Section I. Religious Demography

The country has an area of 91,699 square miles and a population of 21.7 million. According to the 2002 census, Orthodox believers (including the Orthodox Serb Bishopric of Timisoara) constituted 86.8 percent of the population, Roman Catholics 4.7 percent, and Greek Catholics less than 1 percent. While the government stated that the census results were accurate, the Greek Catholic Church claimed that its church membership was undercounted in the official census and estimated that its adherents constituted 3.6 percent of the population. The following religious groups are also present in the country: Old Rite Russian Christian (Orthodox) Church, Protestant Reformed Church, Christian Evangelical Church, Romanian Evangelical Church, Evangelical Augustinian Church, Lutheran Evangelical Church, Unitarian Church of Romania, Baptist Church, Apostolic Church of God (Pentecostal Church), Seventh-day Adventist Church, Armenian Church, Judaism, Islam, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Baha'i Faith, the Family (God's Children), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the Unification Church, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, Transcendental Meditation, Society for Krishna Consciousness, and Zen Buddhism.

Most religious groups are dispersed throughout the country, although a few religious communities are concentrated in particular regions. Old Rite members (Lippovans) are located in Moldavia and Dobrogea. Most Muslims are located in the southeastern part of the country. Most Greek Catholics reside in Transylvania, but there are also Greek Catholics in Bucharest and in the Banat and Crisana regions. Protestant and Catholic believers tend to reside in Transylvania, but many also are located around Bacau. Orthodox and Greek Catholic ethnic Ukrainians live mostly in the northwestern part of the country. Orthodox ethnic Serbs are primarily in Banat. Armenians are concentrated in Moldavia and the south. Members of the Protestant Reformed, Roman Catholic, Unitarian, and Lutheran churches from Transylvania are virtually all ethnic Hungarians. Approximately half of the country's Jewish population lives in Bucharest, while the other half remains scattered across the country.

Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom

Legal/Policy Framework

The constitution provides for freedom of religion and other laws contributed to the generally free practice of religion. However, the government exercises considerable influence over religious life through laws and decrees. Government registration and recognition requirements continued to pose obstacles to minority religious groups.

There is no law against proselytizing, nor is there a clear definition of what activities constitute proselytizing.

The law entitled religious communities to bury, without restriction, their believers in the cemeteries of other religious groups in localities where they do not have their own cemetery and there are no public cemeteries.

A 2006 law to combat anti-Semitism banned fascist, racist, and xenophobic organizations and included the persecution of Roma in addition to Jews in its definition of the Holocaust. According to local media reports, an individual from Buzau, Marius Zoltan Tranca, served a six-month jail term for dissemination of fascist symbols. This is the only known case of a conviction under the law.

The government continued its efforts to address the recommendations of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania (Wiesel Commission) Report and promote Holocaust education in school curricula. During the reporting period, the president dedicated the nation's first Holocaust Memorial in Bucharest.

There are 18 officially recognized religions. Under the provisions of the 2006 religion law, the government implemented a three-tier system of recognition: grupari religioase (which are not legal entities), religious associations, and religions.

Grupari religioase are groups of people who share the same beliefs but do not receive tax exemptions or support from the state.

Religious associations are legal entities that do not receive government funding, must be registered as such in a religious association registry, and receive only limited tax exemptions. This section of the religion law has engendered some confusion, since it confers tax exemptions "according to the Fiscal Code." However, the fiscal code itself does not address the issue of tax exemptions for religious associations. Unrecognized groups were not permitted to engage in profit-making activities. In order to register, religious associations must have 300 citizen members and must submit members' personal data, while the membership requirement for registration of any other type of association is three members. Religious associations were entitled to receive religion status if they have 12 years of continuous religious activity in the country and a minimum membership of 0.1 percent of the population (approximately 22,000 persons).

The 2006 religion law recognizes the same 18 religions that had this status prior to its adoption: the Romanian Orthodox Church, Orthodox Serb Bishopric of Timisoara, Roman Catholic Church, Greek Catholic Church, Old Rite Russian Christian (Orthodox) Church, Reformed (Protestant) Church, Christian Evangelical Church, Romanian Evangelical Church, Evangelical Augustinian Church, Lutheran Evangelical Church, Unitarian Church, Baptist Church, Pentecostal Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Armenian Church, Judaism, Islam, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Recognized religious groups were eligible for state support according to their representation in the census. Additionally, they have the right to establish schools, teach religion classes in public schools where they have a sufficient number of adherents, receive government funds to build places of worship, partially pay clergy salaries with state funds, broadcast religious programming on radio and television, apply for broadcasting licenses for denominational frequencies, have cemeteries, and enjoy tax-exempt status.

Under the religion law, the state-provided budget was determined by the number of adherents of each recognized religious community in the most recent census and "the religion's actual needs" (an ambiguous provision). Some minority religious groups, such as the Greek Catholics, claimed that the census significantly undercounted members of their community.

The government observes the following religious holidays as national holidays: Christmas (December 25) and Orthodox Easter. Members of other recognized religious groups that celebrate Easter on a different date are entitled by law to have an additional holiday.

Local permits are required in order to build places of worship, similar to other types of construction.

Ministry of Justice regulations provided for unrestricted access of recognized religions and religious associations to any type of detention facilities, even if their assistance was not specifically requested. The regulations also forbade any interference by the management of penitentiaries with religious programs and forbade the presence of management representatives at meetings between representatives of any religious group and prisoners. Distribution of religious publications was not subject to any restriction. Prison representatives in charge of religious assistance may not be priests or representatives of any religious community.

The law entitled recognized religious groups to have military clergy trained to render religious assistance to conscripts.

The law governing the rights of foreigners, revised in 2003, introduced a long-stay visa for religious activities. Visa requirements include approval by the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, submission of evidence that the applicants represent a religious organization legally established in the country, certification of medical insurance, and a criminal record review. The law provided for up to five years of visa extensions. There were penalties for any foreigner who stayed without a visa, but such penalties did not appear to be linked to religious activities.

The government permitted, but does not require, religious instruction in public schools. Attendance in religion classes was optional. To opt out of religion classes, students must submit a request in writing. The 18 recognized religions were entitled to hold religion classes in public schools, but only if their adherents constituted a certain proportion of the student population. The law permitted instruction according to the religious affiliation of students' parents. The constitution and the 2006 religion law allow the establishment of confessional schools subsidized by the state.

The law forbids public authorities from asking individuals to specify their religious affiliation for any reason related to their interactions with the state.

Restrictions on Religious Freedom

The government generally respected religious freedom in practice; however, some restrictions adversely affected the rights of some religious groups. Since the 2006 religion law became effective, 14 religious groups received approval from the State Secretariat for Religious Affairs to register as religious associations, four of them during the reporting period.

According to the State Secretariat for Religious Affairs, the state budget for 2010 allocated approximately $11.6 million (40 million lei) to recognized religions for the construction and repair of churches, as well as for supporting their social assistance activities. The government also granted the State Secretariat for Religious Affairs additional funds amounting to an estimated $630,000 (2.1 million lei) in March 2010 and approximately $5.4 million (18 million lei) in April 2010. The funds were distributed in direct proportion to the number of believers in each religion as identified in the 2002 census, with the Orthodox Church receiving the largest share. During the reporting period, minority religious groups complained less than in the past about delayed disbursement of the granted funds.

Some minority religious groups continued to report that local authorities for unjustified reasons opposed granting them construction permits for places of worship. The Greek Catholic Church continued to complain that the local authorities consistently opposed granting them a construction permit for a new church in Sapinta (Maramures County), where the local parish bought land in 2003. The Baptist and Adventist churches reported similar cases in Bucharest and Bursuceni (Suceava County) respectively.

Few politicians sponsored bills and measures that would displease the Orthodox Church. In one instance, a draft education law, submitted to parliament in April 2010, stipulated that school students could take courses in the history of religions, or other subjects of the student's choice, instead of religion classes. In May 2010 following the Orthodox Patriarch's letter to the President of the Chamber of Deputies, which argued that such a provision might generate abuses, the Chamber of Deputies adopted the law without this provision.

Generally, local officials tended to be tolerant toward minority religious groups, but there were incidents in which they were pressured or intimidated by Orthodox clergy. In some instances local police and administrative authorities demonstrated a passive attitude towards stopping the harassment of minority religious groups. Unlike in previous reporting periods Mormons did not report any cases in which the police told them not to do missionary work.

In Pesceana a Greek Catholic community established in 2005 continued to face discrimination and harassment. The Greek Catholics complained that both the authorities and the Orthodox priests continued to deny them access to the local public cemetery. In February 2009 the Appellate Court in Pitesti ruled that the Greek Catholic priest could celebrate religious services in the cemetery only for those who die as Greek Catholic believers and not for their relatives who died as members of the Orthodox faith. However, the Greek Catholic priest complained that since 2005, he has not been allowed to celebrate religious services for any Greek Catholic deceased and was denied access to the cemetery to visit the tombs of relatives of Greek Catholic families.

The Greek Catholic Church complained that state authorities did not adequately respond to their complaints regarding restitution of properties or about discriminatory attitudes by local officials.

In contrast to previous reporting periods, minority religious groups, including both recognized and unrecognized religious groups, with the exception of the Greek Catholic Church, complained less frequently that low-level government officials impeded their efforts to proselytize, interfered in religious activities, and otherwise discriminated against them. The Greek Catholic Church complained about the hostile attitude of local authorities in several Transylvanian localities and about the pressure placed on their believers to switch to the Orthodox faith.

In January 2010 government intervention prevented Shen Yun Performing Arts from performing at a theater in Bucharest. Shen Yun Performing Arts is an organization that artistically presented Chinese culture through music and dance and references the Chinese government's mistreatment of Falun Gong. The Chinese government-banned Falun Gong in 1999 and has been reportedly pressuring governments in Europe, North America, and Asia to cancel Shen Yun performances. Several Romanian members of the European Parliament unsuccessfully tried to reverse the government’s decision. Falun Dafa Romania, which sponsored the shows, alleged that the Chinese Embassy pressured the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to forbid the performance. The MFA said the cancellation was due to a contract issue.

On January 12, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that a Greek Catholic parish from Sambata (Bihor County) had suffered discrimination on religious grounds and sentenced the government to pay $28,900 (22,798 euros) in compensation. The ECHR ruled that the parish had not enjoyed effective access to a court because of its affiliation with the Greek Catholic Church. After the recognition of the Greek Catholic Church in 1990, the law stipulated that the status of former Greek Catholic churches had to be decided by local joint Greek Catholic-Orthodox committees. In Sambata the establishment of such a committee did not occur, and Orthodox Church representatives refused to hold alternate religious services with the Greek Catholics. After a court rejected the Greek Catholic request for alternative services--because of the decree requiring a joint commission to decide on formerly Greek-Catholic properties--the European Court on Human Rights ruled that the Greek Catholic Church did not have effective access to court on the grounds of their religion.

On July 18, 2009, at a fashion show at the beach resort of Mamaia, the mayor of Constanta, Radu Mazare, marched on a public stage dressed as a Nazi officer, accompanied by his 15-year-old son dressed as a Nazi soldier. The Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, MCA Romania, the National Antidiscrimination Council (CNCD), a body established to curb discrimination of any kind (including on religious grounds), and others protested the action. On July 20, 2009, MCA Romania filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General's Office against Mazare, since the public display of Nazi symbols was illegal. On July 22, 2009, Mazare apologized for his action. The Prosecutor General's Office answered MCA's repeated inquiries by saying that the case was in the Prosecutor's Office in Constanta and an investigation was in the preliminary stages. The case was reported closed on January 26, 2010, and Mazare was exonerated from any responsibility. The case was then reopened on February 3, 2010, with no reported result. On May 13, 2010, the Prosecutor's Office to the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the Prosecutor's Office to the Constanta Court of Appeal answered MCA's inquiries on March 8 and May 7, 2010, by saying that the case was under investigation. On June 11, 2010, the Prosecutor's Office of the Constanta Court of Appeal sent Mazare's case to the Constanta branch of the Division in charge of Organized Crime and Terrorism (a specialized department of the Prosecutor General's Office). No further developments occurred by the end of the reporting period.

Some minority religious groups also complained that authorities generally allowed the Orthodox Church to have an active role in opening ceremonies in schools and on other occasions, but that other religions were underrepresented. Greek Catholic priests from Transylvania complained that they were never invited to local events, not even those commemorating Greek Catholic heroes.

An Orthodox religion textbook published in 2006 by the Ministry of Education with the coordination of the then and present state secretary for religious affairs continued to generate complaints and dissatisfaction among minority religious groups. The book described the emergence of the Greek Catholic Church in the 18th century as the result of "Catholic proselytizing" and described Jehovah's Witnesses, Baha'is, and Mormons as sects " representing a genuine threat to society." A chapter in the religion textbook alleged that sects proselytized using such means as brainwashing, bribery, blackmail, and exploitation of the poor. While the government stated it had withdrawn the textbook, Jehovah's Witnesses and Baha'is reported that it was neither amended nor withdrawn during the reporting period. The CNCD confirmed to the Baha'is that the textbook had never been changed and the Baha'is decided to take legal action against the Ministry of Education and the state secretary in question.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church complained that various school exams were scheduled to take place on Saturdays when Adventist students could not participate. In some cases, after discussions with ministry and university officials, compromises were made to accommodate Adventist students. However, other activities scheduled for Saturdays were not changed, and organizers wrote “Adventist” next to the name of those who did not attend. In one case an Adventist student was able to reschedule his audition for the county instrumental school Olympics on a Friday, but the examiner said that there was no point in promoting the student to the national Olympics given that he belonged to the Adventist faith, and the audition would take place on a Saturday. The student's father and the Conscience and Liberty Association, an NGO fostering religious freedom, filed complaints with the Ministry of Education. The student was allowed to participate in the national Olympics.

In another case the Department of Economic Studies and Business Management of Stefan cel Mare University in Suceava did not approve the rescheduling of a July 25, 2009, (Saturday) graduation exam for an Adventist student, who postponed the exam until winter 2009-10.

According to minority religious groups, military clergy continued to consist of only Orthodox priests, with the exception of one representative from the Roman Catholic Church and one from the Evangelical Alliance (Baptist), a situation the Reformed and Greek Catholic Churches perceived as discriminatory.

Minority religious groups continued to complain of a lack of provisions for the free access of religious groups to state-owned media. The Seventh-day Adventist Church complained that state-owned media ignored events sponsored by minority religious groups and that the allocation of religious programming favored the Orthodox Church and restricted the access of other religious denominations to state-owned media news programs. It also complained that in many cases media outlets mentioned inappropriately the religious affiliation of criminals belonging to minority religions.

In 2005 the government amended legislation governing property restitution with the expressed aim of expediting restitution, simplifying restitution procedures, and broadening the scope of restitution. This law also covered the restitution of farm and forestland and other real estate to ethnic communities and addressed restitution to religious communities.

The 2005 amended law also introduced fines for officials who hindered the restitution process, and created the Property Fund to compensate claimants with shares of stock for properties (farm and forestland included) that cannot be returned in kind. However, the Property Fund was not listed on the stock exchange by the end of the reporting period. A 2007 ordinance provided for cash payments in lieu of restitution of up to $215,000 (500,000 lei), paid over a two-year period. On June 30, 2010, the government officially suspended cash payments for a period of two years, although such payments were suspended in 2009.

Under the amended restitution law, church buildings used by public institutions (such as museums, schools, and hospitals) were to remain in tenants' hands for a period of three or five years, depending on the function of the public institution, during which time they were to pay rent to the churches. The majority of church properties belong in this category. This law does not address the Greek Catholic churches confiscated under Communist rule in 1948 and handed over to the Orthodox Church; the 2005 amendments stated that the matter would be addressed in separate legislation, which was not adopted during the reporting period.

A national joint Orthodox and Greek Catholic committee, set up by government decree in 1990 to resolve the situation of former Greek Catholic churches, proved ineffective, and this effort effectively ended in 2004. A 2005 law permitted the Greek Catholic Church to resort to court action whenever the bilateral dialogue regarding the restitution of churches with the Orthodox Church failed. While this law enabled the many restitution lawsuits to proceed, the law itself does not restitute properties to the Greek Catholic Church, and effective implementation of court decisions remained problematic.

A 2004 law, as amended by the 2005 legislation, provided for the restitution of all buildings that belonged to ethnic communities and that were confiscated between September 6, 1940, and December 22, 1989, including the period between 1940 and 1944, when the pro-Nazi government seized a large number of Jewish properties. As in the case of religious properties, buildings used for the "public interest" would remain in the hands of the present users for either three or five years, depending on the current use of the structure.

In many cases religious minorities have not succeeded in regaining possession of properties confiscated under communist rule. Many properties returned to religious denominations contained government offices, schools, hospitals, or cultural institutions that require relocation, and lawsuits and protests by current occupants have delayed restitution of the property to the rightful owners. Although some progress was made during the reporting period, the pace of restitution was extremely slow, and the large majority of religious property restitution cases remained unresolved. In many cases local authorities refused to turn over restituted properties in which they had a financial interest and challenged in court the decisions of the Special Restitution Commission (SRC), the section within the National Authority for Property Restitution responsible for restituting religious and ethnic communal property. There were complaints that local authorities consistently delayed providing the SRC with information about the claimed properties, thereby obstructing the restitution process, despite fines for such delays stipulated in the 2005 legislation. The Property Fund, which should provide compensation in stock, was not listed on the stock exchange.

The SRC started its activity in 2003 and by the end of the reporting period had restituted to recognized religious groups 461 buildings of a total of 14,716 applications. Another 1,460 cases were approved to receive compensation, and 413 cases were denied.

Since 2003 the SRC returned only 130 of the 6,723 properties other than churches that the Greek Catholic Church claimed under the restitution legislation, and decided to grant compensation in 41 additional cases. The church also received approximately 65 of the 80 properties that were restituted by government decree in 1992, but many of them only on paper. In Bucharest during the reporting period, the Greek Catholic Church succeeded in obtaining partial possession of one of these properties. According to Greek Catholic reports, in Cluj two cases were close to being resolved that would allow the church to reprocess of two of its schools, while in a third case, a lawsuit was still in progress at the end of the reporting period.

The government continued to avoid passing legislation regarding the restitution of Greek Catholic churches by the Orthodox Church, which received them from the communist state in 1948. During the reporting period, Greek Catholics received only one church from the Orthodox Church. Restitution of existing churches was an important matter to both denominations because residents were likely to attend the local church regardless of whether it was Greek Catholic or Orthodox. This had financial consequences because the number of members of a church was directly linked to the corresponding share of the state budget allocated for recognized religious groups.

Courts delayed hearings on many lawsuits filed by the Greek Catholic Church, and the lawsuits were often impeded by appeals by the Orthodox Church, as well as by the transfer of the cases to different courts. In Sisesti (Maramures County)--where a lawsuit over the former Greek Catholic church has lasted over 16 years--the High Court of Cassation and Justice returned the case to the lower court. The lawsuit was in progress at the end of the reporting period, with the Orthodox Church asking for compensation if the court decided to return the church to the Greek Catholic Church. Meanwhile, the Greek Catholic congregation continued to hold religious services in the open air, since the Orthodox Church refused the Greek Catholic proposal to hold an alternate service. Similarly lengthy lawsuits continued to be in progress for churches in other counties.
The Roman Catholic Church and the SRC remained unable to identify a solution for the restitution of the Battyanaeum Library, despite a 2003 court ruling. Full restitution of the Roman Catholic Bishop's palace in Oradea remained impeded by the slow pace of repair and construction work at the new location of the Tarii Crisurilor Museum, which had relocated only partially from the palace. From 2003 until the end of the reporting period, the SRC issued restitution decisions for 913 of the approximately 2,700 buildings claimed by Hungarian churches, rejecting 76 claims; however, Hungarian churches did not regain physical possession of many of these approved properties. The Unitarian Church won separate lawsuits regarding three buildings in Cluj and took possession of two of them. In December 2009 the Unitarian Church began the process of registering the third building as its property, but had not taken possession of it by the end of the reporting period.

Of the 42 buildings returned to the Jewish community by government decrees in the 1990s, the community took partial or full possession of 41, with only one case still pending. In many cases lawsuits delayed restitution. In Iasi 18 land claims of the Jewish community remained unresolved, and the situation of a 51-hectare plot of land that the prefect divided and distributed to other persons was not resolved during the reporting period. After having received only a six-hectare plot in compensation for the land in question during previous reporting periods, the Jewish community continued discussions with the National Agency of State Domains to identify plots of land to compensate for the ones that were no longer available. By the end of the reporting period, the Special Restitution Commission processed 615 of the 1,980 claims and approved 56 cases for restitution and 160 cases for compensation. The Jewish community had not received any financial compensation by the end of the reporting period. A total of 257 claims were rejected. Of the 10 lawsuits challenging the restitution of various buildings, the Jewish community won seven and lost one. Two others were in progress at the end of the reporting period. The Jewish community continued to complain about flaws in the legislative process and difficulties in obtaining documents from the archives as well as the length of the compensation procedures.

The Greek Catholic Church also complained that, in many regions where it claimed farm and forestlands, local authorities, influenced by the Orthodox Church, opposed restitution outright, proposed that restitution to all religious denominations be in direct proportion to the number of their believers, or gave land reclaimed by the Greek Catholic Church directly to the Orthodox Church. The Greek Catholic Church also reported that the Bucharest mayor's office continued to oppose the return of 430,560 square feet of land in Bucharest. In Cluj County the authorities delayed the restitution of land to the Greek Catholic Church in the localities of Feleacu and Morlaca; meanwhile, local authorities gave the former Greek Catholic land to other individuals or companies. According to Greek Catholic sources, the Greek Catholic Church continued to reject the proposal of local authorities in Budesti (Maramures County) to receive land that had belonged to Jewish victims of the Nazi era that was offered to them as a replacement for farm and forestland. Local authorities failed to restitute former Greek Catholic forest or farm land in 27 localities across Maramures, Salaj, Bihor, Satu-Mare, and Hunedoara counties.

On December 14, 2009, the Timisoara Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Romanian Orthodox Church Fund of Bukovina Foundation in the lawsuit regarding the restitution of 166,813 of the 192,000 hectares of forestland reclaimed by the foundation. The state delayed the actual restitution of the land.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church complained that lawsuits involving religious issues usually lasted for long periods. They cited a 2003 lawsuit, filed against the city hall of Scobinti (Iasi County) where the mayor and the local Orthodox priest prevented the burial of an Adventist believer in the Adventist rite that was closed only in 2009, when the court ruled in favor of the Adventist Church.

The Adventist Church reported that in the summer of 2009, it, along with other recognized religious denominations and journalists, noticed that the site of the government's e-governance project allocated much more space to the Orthodox Church, in comparison to the other 17 recognized religious denominations, which were very briefly described. The Adventist Church sent a memorandum requesting an objective, nondiscriminatory presentation of all recognized religious denominations, as well as that such presentations should be drafted by the religious denomination in question. In spring the government decided that the requests were valid and included them in the final form of the project.

The Baptist Church continued to allege that the Bucharest city hall wanted to expropriate a piece of land owned by the church for the construction of a shopping center. The Bucharest city hall repeatedly refused the Baptist Church's request for a construction permit for a place of worship on the land.

The local Muslim community continued to face problems with the burial of its members. Despite repeated promises by the Bucharest mayor's office, during the reporting period, the community did not receive land for the establishment of a Muslim cemetery and for the construction of a mosque.

According to Roman Catholic authorities and media reports, the issue of the 19-story building to be constructed within the protection zone around the Roman Catholic Saint Joseph Cathedral in Bucharest, a designated historical monument, remained unresolved. The church argued that construction of the building might damage the foundations of the cathedral. In 2007 a court in Dolj County suspended the construction, but on June 25, 2009, a court of appeals in Ploiesti ruled in favor of the developer, thereby allowing the construction to continue. In July 2009 the church filed a request at the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) to review the case. The ICCJ initially sent it to the Ploiesti Court of Appeal and later, in February 2010, approved the Roman Catholic Church's request to transfer it to the Suceava Court of Appeal. In October 2009 the Mayor-General of Bucharest urged the developer to stop construction and filed a complaint with the Bucharest court, challenging the legality of the concession contracts for the land on which the 19-story building was erected. Both courts had not ruled on these cases by end of the reporting period.

A similar situation existed in Constanta where a developer started the construction of an office building several feet from a mosque built in 1869 and believed to be one of the nation's oldest. The mufti's office filed two complaints in court in 2008, asking for the cancellation of the construction permit issued by the Constanta city hall and for suspension of work. By the end of the reporting period, the lawsuit was still in progress, and the building was near completion.
In December 2009 responsibility for oversight of the Religious Affairs Department was shifted from the Ministry of Culture to the Prime Minister's Office. Media alleged that the move was the result of the Orthodox Patriarch's direct intervention, following the appointment of an ethnic Hungarian with a different religious affiliation to head the Ministry of Culture. The Orthodox Church denied the assertions.

There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the country.

Forced Religious Conversion

There were no reports of forced religious conversion.

Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom