E/CN.4/1995/91/Add.1
page 35
2.
The criminal accusation against the parents of the
minors was rejected by the Provincial Court of Barcelona in a
ruling of 29 June 1993 that was upheld by the Supreme Court
on 30 October 1994.
We repeat:
There has never been any violation by the Kingdom of Spain
of the right to freedom of religion and there has been no
discrimination on grounds of religion or belief."
GREECE
14.
Further to its reply of 12 February 1993 to the communication
of 9 October 1992 (E/CN.4/1994/79, para. 53), the Permanent Mission of
Greece transmitted the following observations to the Special Rapporteur
on 8 August 1994:
"I have the honour to transmit to you the replies communicated to
us by the Air Force General Headquarters and the Governing Body of
Mount Athos concerning the case of the four evangelist officers and that
of the four expelled monks mentioned in the Special Rapporteur’s letter.
A.
The case of the evangelist officers
The case concerns four Air Force officers:
(a)
Flying Officer Savvas Mandalaridis, son of Ioannis;
(b) Pilot Officer Ioannis Sarandis, son of Christos; (c) Pilot Officer
Demetrios Larissis, son of Stefanos; and (d) Sergeant Ioannis Vlastos,
son of Spyridon.
On 18 May 1992, proceedings were instituted before the Air Force
Military Tribunal in Athens against the persons concerned on charges of
proselytism in favour of the religious sect known as the ’Brotherhood of
the Disciples of Jesus Christ of the Free Apostolic Church of the
Pentecost’, to which they had subjected their colleagues, mainly in army
quarters, in the town of Volos. They endeavoured by persuasion,
importunity and fraud to lure their colleagues into their religious
movement. Proselytism as an offence is defined in article 4 of
Act No. 1363/38. The persons concerned were charged with having violated
article 13, paragraph 2, of the Constitution, which states that ’All
known religions shall be free and their rites of worship may be freely
practised under the protection of the law ... Proselytism is
prohibited’, in conjunction with article 4, paragraph 1, of
Act No. 1363/38, and article 2 of Act No. 1672/39.
By virtue of decision No. 909/92 of the Air Force Military Tribunal
in Athens, Flight Sergeant Vlastos Ioannis was acquitted on benefit of
doubt, but the three others were sentenced as follows: Flying Officer
Mandalaridis Savvas to one year’s imprisonment, with three years’
suspension and, in the event of the suspension being lifted or
revoked, commutation of sentence to a fine of 1,000 drachmas a day;