Thlimmenos v. Greece

In 1983, Iakovos Thlimmenos (plaintiff) was convicted by the Athens Permanent Army Tribunal of insubordination for refusing to wear a military uniform during the general mobilization. Thlimmenos, a Jehovah’s Witness, refused to wear the military uniform on religious grounds. Thlimmenos was sentenced to four years imprisonment and released on parole after two years and one day. In 1988, Thlimmenos took the public examination to be appointed one of 12 chartered accountants in Greece (defendant). At this time, only members of the Greek Institute of Chartered Accountants could provide chartered accountant services in Greece. Thlimmenos scored second among 60 candidates; however, the Executive Board of the Greek Institute of Chartered Accountants refused Thlimmenos’s appointment, as he had been convicted of a serious crime. Thlimmenos filed suit, arguing that the refusal to appoint Thlimmenos as a chartered accountant violated his rights to freedom of religion and equality before the law. Thlimmenos’s efforts to obtain relief from the Greek judicial system were unsuccessful. Thlimmenos then filed an application against Greece with the European Commission of Human Rights. Thlimmenos argued that the refusal of Greek authorities to appoint him a chartered accountant because of a past criminal conviction that was grounded in Thlimmenos’s religious beliefs violated Articles 9 and 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the convention).