The former Spanish ambassador to the Holy See, Gonzalo Puente Ojea, affirmed that the Catholic Church is a public enemy nowadays. In the view of Puente Ojea, the Church is used to a privilege treatment and its bellicose tone towards the Spanish government is part of a power game.
French member of parliament, Christian Vanneste, sentenced to payments for "homophobic insults"; three years later acquitted by last juridical instance.
Staff sacked after refusing Sunday work.
(1996 - 2005) Legal developments put religious freedom at risk. Christian groups listed as dangerous sects. State power to interfere with religious exercise established by law.
Pastor Ake Green charged with committing a "hate crime" for preaching a sermon on homosexuality in Borghold.
New law prohibits criticism of homosexuality and makes biblical applications to today a criminal offence.
(October 2001-April 2002) Evangelical preacher arrested and fined for displaying a sign in public saying ‘Stop Immorality’.
(1995/1996) Several instances have been collected in which staff were denied the right to conscientious objection and lost their jobs.
Ayios Procopios, a Byzantine church of the 11th or 12th century situated in the village of Synkrasi, in the Famagusta district, in the Republic of Cyprus, was desecrated after the military had occupied the region by force. The iconostasis was destroyed and the portable icons were stolen. The church is today a refuge for birds.
Antifonitis Monastery, a Byzantine monastery, built at the end of the 12th century, was destroyed as a consequence of the Turkish invasion. The heads of the two Archangels in the apse of the church were ruined. Turkish illicit dealers in antiquities cut into pieces and removed from the walls the representations of the Day of Judgment and the Stem of Jesse, vandalising a large part of them.