Journalists Archives

The sentencing of a newspaper editor to a prison sentence for defamation of a judge was “manifestly disproportionate” by violating freedom of expression

Article 10
07/03/2019 19:28

JUDGMENT Sallusti v. Italy 07.03.2019 (no. 22350/13) see here SUMMARY Prison sentence of a famous Italian editor-in-chief of for articles published in his newspaper. The national courts found that these articles had falsely reported that a 13-year-old girl had been forced to perform an abortion by her parents and the custodian judge, despite the earlier […]

The unjustified provisional detention of a journalist violated his right to freedom and security.

Article 5
08/12/2018 16:52

JUDGMENT Haziyev v. Azerbaijan 6.12.2018 (no. 19842/15) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the detention of an Azerbaijani journalist and opposition activist following an altercation in the street. He was arrested in August 2014 and held in detention pending trial until his conviction for hooliganism in January 2015.The European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, […]

Court condemns libel verdict against a Hungarian media company, stresses importance of hyperlinks on Internet

Article 10
05/12/2018 15:39

JUDGMENT Magyar Jeti Zrt v. Hungary 4.12.2018 (no. 11257/16) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the applicant company being found liable for posting a hyperlink to an interview on YouTube which was later found to contain defamatory content. The Court underscored the importance of hyperlinking for the smooth operation of the Internet and distinguished the use […]

Punishment of publisher for article which criticised a judge breached the right to freedom of expression

Article 10
09/11/2018 09:11

JUDGMENT Narodni List d.d. v. Croatia 8.11.2018 (no. 2782/12) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the freedom of the press to criticise judges. The applicant, the publisher of a weekly magazine, complained about a domestic court decision finding that it had defamed a county court judge and ordering it to pay over 6,000 euros in […]

Criticism in the press of political figures, convictions for damages and freedom of expression

Article 10
03/10/2018 13:44

JUDGMENT Fedchenko v. Russia (no. 3) 02.10.2018 (no. 7972/09) Fedchenko v. Russia (no. 4) 02.10.2018 (no. 17221/13) Fedchenko v. Russia (no. 5) 02.10.2018 (no. 17229/13). SUMMARY Critical publications regarding the behavior of political figures (use of state-owned cars for private purposes, ownership fraud, favoritism of a shopping center owner) and freedom of expression. Sentencing a journalist for […]

UK mass interception and surveillance in the light of the ECHR

Article 10
17/09/2018 08:52

JUDGMENT Big Brother Watch and others v. The United Kingdom 13.09.2018 (no. 58170/13, 62322/14 and 24960/15) see here SUMMARY Complaints by journalists and human rights organizations regarding the massive monitoring of their communications, the exchange of information with foreign governments and the acquisition of communications data by communications service providers. Inadequate supervision of the choice […]

The criminal punishment of a book publisher on the disappearance of a journalist and the freedom of expression

Article 10
17/09/2018 08:36

JUDGMENT Fatih Taş v. Turkey 04.09.2018 (no. 6810/09) see here SUMMARY Criminal conviction of a publisher of a book on public denigration of the Republic of Turkey because he criticized the authorities and claimed that a journalist had been kidnapped by state guards. The ECtHR has condemned Turkey for violating freedom of expression because […]

Investigation of journalist Anna Politkovskaya’s murder failed to look properly into who commissioned the crime

Article 2
12/09/2018 12:16

JUDGMENT Mazepa and others v. Russia 17/7/2018 (no. 15086/07) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the investigation into the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The Court found in particular that while the authorities had found and convicted a group of men who had directly carried out the contract killing of Ms Politkovskaya, they had […]

Sentencing a journalist for defamation of a local politician. Violation of freedom of expression

Article 10
12/09/2018 10:26

JUDGMENT Paraskevopoulos v. Greece 28.6.2018 (no. 64184/11) see here SUMMARY Mr Paraskevopoulos wrote a newspaper article in December 2007 accusing people who had become involved in politics of abusing their position by, among other things, obstructing public land next to their own property by planting trees on it and by building a gazebo that jutted […]

Arresting and fining a journalist who shared classified military information without publishing it was disproportionate

Article 10
12/09/2018 09:49

JUDGMENT Gîrleanu v. Romania 26.06.2018 (no. 50376/09) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the arrest and conviction of a journalist for possessing and trying to verify classified information on national security, namely documents belonging to a Romanian military unit based in Afghanistan. The Court found in particular that Mr Gîrleanu had been arrested, a criminal […]

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