EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN ACTION / Alla Tymofeyeva (ed.)

(extracts)), and that this duty requires the State to ensure mutual tolerance between opposing groups (see, among other authorities, United Communist Party of Turkey and Others v. Turkey , 30 January 1998, § 57 , Reports 1998‑I, and Leyla Şahin, cited above, § 107). Accordingly, the role of the authorities in such circumstances is not to remove the cause of tension by eliminating pluralism, but to ensure that the competing groups tolerate each other; this State role is unlikely to diminish the role of a faith or a Church with which the population of a specific country has historically and culturally been associated (see Members of the Gldani Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Others, cited above, § 132 with further references therein). As regards the autonomy of faith groups, religious communities traditionally and universally exist in the form of organised structures. Where the organisation of the religious community is at issue, Article 9 of the Convention must be interpreted in the light of Article 11, which safeguards associative life against unjustified State interference. Seen in that perspective, the right of believers to freedom of religion encompasses the expectation that they will be allowed to associate freely, without arbitrary State intervention. The autonomous existence of religious communities is indispensable for pluralism in a democratic society and is thus an issue at the very heart of the protection which Article 9 of the Convention affords. It has a direct interest, not only for the actual organisation of those communities but also for the effective enjoyment by all their active members of the right to freedom of religion. Were the organisational life of the community not protected by Article 9 of the Convention, all other aspects of the individual’s freedom of religion would become vulnerable (see Fernández Martínez, cited above, § 127, and Sindicatul “Păstorul cel Bun,” cited above, § 136 with further references therein). Lastly, where the acts complained of were carried out by private individuals and were not therefore directly attributable to the respondent State, the Court must consider the issues in terms of the positive obligation on the State authorities to secure the rights under Article 9 to those within their jurisdiction (see, mutatis mutandis , Palomo Sánchez and Others v. Spain [GC], nos. 28955/06, 28957/06, 28959/06 and 28964/06, §§ 58-61, ECHR 2011; Otto-Preminger-Institut v. Austria , 25 November 1994, Series A no. 295 § 47; and Eweida and Others v. the United Kingdom , nos. 48420/10, 59842/10, 51671/10 and 36516/10, § 84, ECHR 2013 (extracts)). In this connection, the responsibility of the State may be engaged where religious beliefs are opposed or denied in a manner which inhibits those who hold such beliefs from exercising their freedom to hold or express them. In such cases the State may be called upon to ensure the peaceful enjoyment of the rights guaranteed under Article 9 to the holders of those beliefs (see Öllinger v. Austria , no. 76900/01, § 39, ECHR 2006‑IX; and also, mutatis mutandis , Miroļubovs and Others , cited above, § 80). 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises. 2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary. Article 10 of the Convention Freedom of expression

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EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN ACTION