Avenue de l'Europe
Thlimmenos v. Greece 
| 2000
A conviction for refusing on religious or philosophical grounds to wear the military uniform cannot imply any dishonesty or moral turpitude likely to undermine the offender's ability to exercise this profession.
Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, May 2000
Iakovos Thlimmenos was a Jehovah’s Witness. He refused to do military service because of his religious beliefs. He was convicted of insubordination and sentenced to four years in prison.
Upon his release Iakovos passed exams to become an accountant. However, the relevant board refused to appoint him because he had been convicted of a serious crime.
The European court found that Iakovos Thlimmenos’s refusal to serve in the military had not shown dishonesty that would undermine his ability to work as an accountant. Barring him from the profession had therefore been unreasonable and unjustified. As it was due to Iakovos's spiritual beliefs, this amounted to discrimination based on his religion.
In response to the court’s judgment, the law in Greece was changed to give conscientious objectors the right to have their criminal records changed, to remove offences linked to their objections to military service.
In 2001 the Constitution was changed to grant conscientious objectors the right to perform civilian service instead.
Three Greek air force officers were members of the Pentecostal Church. They were all convicted for promoting their religion and given suspended prison sentences of over a year. The European court ruled that convicting the men for these conversations with civilians had violated their right to religious freedom. The Greek government took steps to ensure that no such prosecutions happened again.
Ingrid Hoffmann was a Jehovah’s Witness. When she got divorced, a child psychologist advised that she should be given custody of her children, because of their close bond. However, an Austrian court ruled that the father should get custody, because of Ingrid’s religion. The European court ruled that this had been discriminatory – leading to changes to prevent the same thing happening again.
Nadia Eweida worked for British Airways (BA). She wore a small cross around her neck, as a sign of her religious faith. BA suspended Nadia from work without pay because her cross violated its uniform policy. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that this was an unreasonable interference with Nadia’s right to freedom of religion - leading to a change in relevant standards in the UK.
Greece
Austria
United Kingdom