Libertatea de exprimare religioasă, între schismă și amendă contravenţională. Cazul de defăimare de la biserica Sf. Dumitru din Buzău (2011)

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the legal and reasonable boundaries for expressing religious ideas in public, with focus on the defamation case at the orthodox Liturgy of St. Demeter’s church from Buzău in the year 2010. During the celebration, a number of eight schismatic-orthodox protesters entered the church and shouted defamatory slogans against the Patriarch and the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church. At least four of the protesters were given a contraventional penalty by the police agent on the basis of Law 61/1991 regarding the breaking of public peace, and following the legal contestation, the case was sent to the Justice Court of Buzău. The stake of this case is to understand in which circumstances can one exercise the right of expressing critical religious ideas, in a manner that should not violate the law, the Constitution, but also, in the canonical perspective, the procedure of canon law