tly the Supreme Court on appeal confined the scope of their inquiry to ascertaining that the report had been issued within the administrative competence of the Federal Security Service, without carrying out an independent review of whether the conclusion that the applicant constituted a danger to national security had a reasonable basis in fact. In these circumstances, the Court is unable to discern in the domestic decisions any concrete findings of fact corroborating the Government's argument that the applicant's religious activity posed a threat to national security.
73. Furthermore, in so far as the Government relied on the protection of national security as the main legitimate aim of the impugned measure, the Court reiterates that the exceptions to freedom of religion listed in Article 9 § 2 must be narrowly interpreted, for their enumeration is strictly exhaustive and their definition is necessarily restrictive (see Svyato-Mykhaylivska Parafiya v. Ukraine, No. 77703/01, § 132, 14 June 2007). Legitimate aims mentioned in this provision include: the interests of public safety, the protection of public order, health or morals, and the protection of the rights and freedoms of others (see paragraph 58 above). However, unlike the second paragraphs of Articles 8, 10, and 11, paragraph 2 of Article 9 of the Convention does not allow restrictions on the ground of national security. Far from being an accidental omission, the non-inclusion of that particular ground for limitations in Article 9 reflects the primordial importance of religious pluralism as "one of the foundations of a "democratic society" within the meaning of the Convention" and the fact that a State cannot dictate what a person believes or take coercive steps to make him change his beliefs (see, mutatis mutandis, Kokkinakis, cited above, § 31, and Ivanova v. Bulgaria, No. 52435/99, § 79, ECHR 2007-...). It follows that the interests of national security could not serve as a justification for the measures taken by the Russian authorities against the applicant.
74. In so far as the Government also alleged, at the pre-admissibility stage, that the applicant's religious activities had interfered with private, family and other legitimate interests of individuals, the Court notes that the sole piece of evidence they mentioned in this connection was that examined by the Promyshlenniy District Court in the proceedings concerning the dissolution of the Stavropol regional branch of the FFWPU (see paragraph 13 above). The Court observes, however, that the applicant had not been an employee of the Stavropol branch or a party to the dissolution proceedings, that he had not been mentioned by name or otherwise identified in the District Court's judgment, and that no findings of fact had been made in respect of him in those proceedings. Moreover, that judgment by the District Court was not relied upon or even mentioned in the proceedings concerning the applicant's exclusion from Russia. The Government did not explain its relevance or give any other indication as to why they considered that the applicant's religious activities affected the rights and freedoms of others. It follows that this justification for the interference with the applicant's right to freedom of religion has not been made out.
75. Having regard to the above circumstances, the Court finds that the Government did not put forward a plausible legal and factual justification for the applicant's exclusion from Russia on account of his religious activities. There has therefore been a violation of Article 9 of the Convention.
III. Alleged violation of Article 14 of the Convention,
taken in conjunction with Article 9
76. The applicant complained that he had suffered discrimination in the enjoyment of his right to freedom of religion on the ground of his position as a foreign missionary, contrary to Arti
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