Twenty European countries have now joined the Italian appeal against a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (pictured), regarding the display of crucifixes in public places, it has emerged. The group does not include Ireland.

The number of states supporting Italy has been described as “a major political victory” by a leading group in the campaign for religious freedom. However, Ireland did not associate its voice with this campaign.

The ECHR, in the case of Lautsi v. Italy, ruled last year that Italy was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights for allowing crucifixes to be placed in its state schools.

Italy appealed to the ECHR, and its case was heard at the end of last month by the Grand Chamber. It is thought that the Court will issue its ruling before November.

However, according to the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), while Italy has yet to achieve a legal victory, “it certainly has already secured a major political victory”.

In a statement, the ECLJ said that the fact that Italy had received official support from 20 European countries that have openly defended the legitimacy of Christian symbols in society, particularly within the classroom, was “clear evidence of this political victory”.

Initally, 10 countries entered the Lautsi case as “third party” (or Amicus Curiae). Each of these countries, Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, Romania, the Russian Federation, and San Marino, submitted a brief to the Court inviting it to overturn its first decision.

These briefs were not only about the legal content of the ruling, but also expressed misgivings about the extreme model of secularism which lay behind the Court’s ruling.

Lithuania, for example, said in its submission that the Lautsi case was analogous to the religious persecution it suffered when it was forced to remove religious symbols from its country.

After the initial wave of ten, nine additional countries officially expressed solidarity with Italy’s stance.

The governments of Albania, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine criticised the initial judgment and petitioned that the Court remember that it must respect the national identities and religious traditions of each of the 47 member States.

Several governments insisted on the fact that religious identity is at the root of European values and unity.

Therefore, including Italy, almost half of the member States of the Council of Europe have openly opposed this attempt of forced secularization of schools and affirmed the social legitimacy of Christianity in European society.

Previous to the Lautsi judgment, the Court had considered that the issue of religious symbols within public classrooms fell within the sovereignty of the member States, remembering that the Court was required to respect the culture and traditions of each particular member State.

However, in the Lautsi ruling the Court held that the Convention requires European member States to be “areligious”.