The dissident Bulgarian clergy headed by Metropolitan Bishop Inokentii announced that it will file an appeal in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Two weeks after police expelled members of the "Alternative Synod" from some 250 churches they have been occupying since a schism in 1992, religious freedom advocates and religious minorities are preparing to step up their campaign for the expulsions to be reviewed by a court.
Police stormed through 250 churches countrywide and detained many priests in a controversial raid to restore proprietorship of official Bulgarian Orthodox Church on July 21.
The problem following the schism of the Bulgarian Church has established two Orthodox community centres, one headed by Patriarch Maxim and the other claiming he had been "appointed" by ex-communist regime.