BUDAPEST: Hungary's constitutional court annulled Tuesday part of a controversial law that ended official recognition and state funding for scores of religious communities.
The law had notably excluded Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu congregations, prompting heavy criticism from the international community.
"The Court believes that regulation on obtaining status and recognition was unconstitutional and dependent on political decisions made in parliament," it said in a statement.
It also criticised the fact that parliament was not required to explain its decisions on whether a religious community obtained official status or not, and the lack of a right to appeal.
"The regulations must be transparent and objective," the court said.
The decision is retroactive and all the religion that were deprived of their status must have their recognition restored, it said.
Parliament approved a law in December 2011 that reduced the number of recognised faiths from over 300 to just 14.
Among the recognised faiths were so-called traditional religions like the Catholic, Reformed, Evangelical and Orthodox churches as well as Judaism.
But Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu congregations were excluded.
Tuesday's decision was the court's latest challenge to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, which has increasingly accentuated Hungary's Christian heritage, drawing up a new constitution that cites God and refers to marriage as a union between man and woman and to life as beginning at conception.
In January it annulled a law on electoral procedures and voter pre-registration which was widely predicted to tilt general elections in 2014 in favour of Orban's right-wing Fidesz party.
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