ABSTRACT

Mr Christos Sidiropoulos, an electrician, Mr Petros Dimtsis, a teacher, Mr Stavros Anastassiadis, a farmer, Mr Anastassios Boules, a farmer, Mr Dimitrios Seltsas, a dentist and Mr Stavros Sovislis, a farmer, all lived in northern Greece, on the border of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. They claimed to be of ‘Macedonian’ ethnic origin and to have a ‘Macedonian national consciousness’ and decided with others to form a non-profit-making association called ‘Home of Macedonian Civilisation’. The association’s headquarters were to be at Florina. According to clause 2 of its memorandum of association, the association’s objects were ‘(a) the cultural, intellectual and artistic development of its members and of the inhabitants of Florina in general and the fostering of a spirit of co-operation, solidarity and love between them; (b) cultural decentralisation and the preservation of intellectual and artistic endeavours and traditions and of the civilisation’s monuments and, more generally, the promotion and development of their folk culture; and (c) the protection of the region’s natural and cultural environment’. Their application for registration of their association under the name of ‘Home of Macedonian Civilisation’ was refused by the Florina Court of First Instance. Their appeal to the Salonika Court of Appeal was dismissed as was their subsequent appeal to the Court of Cassation. Comm found unanimously V 11, not necessary to consider 6 and 14, no separate issue under 9 and 10.