CEDH · CASELAW;CLIN;ENG — 2 novembre 2006

.s3ABFC313 { font-size:10pt } .sEB86A30B { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:14pt; page-break-after:avoid } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sA241FE93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:18pt; text-align:justify; page-break-after:avoid; border-bottom:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .s2EF62ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:12pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s8F2B0B1B { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12pt } .s9FF10068 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s5F48796F { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .s5CB9E8AB { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify; border-bottom:1pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .sDF790F1E { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 91 November 2006 Kobenter and Standard Verlags GmbH v. Austria - 60899/00 Judgment 2.11.2006 [Section I] Article 10 Article 10-1 Freedom of expression Conviction for criticising a court's judgment: violation   Facts : Following a private prosecution, a regional court found that certain passages in a magazine article criticising homosexuals had constituted the offence of insult. The judgment also contained a passage which stated that homosexuality included the animal kingdom, giving examples of same-sex practices among different animals. The applicant journalist published several articles in a national daily newspaper, where he stated in essence that the judgment had not significantly differed from “the traditions of medieval witch trials” and that it had lent “support to a homophobe's venomous hate campaign”. Subsequently, the judge removed the impugned passage from the judgment. He also received an official warning. Upon a prosecution filed by the judge, the regional court convicted the applicant journalist of defamation and imposed a fine on him, suspended for one year. It also ordered the publisher of the daily to pay compensation to the judge, and to publish the judgment. The court found that the journalist's statement had not only been a value judgment, but had also insinuated that the judge had grossly violated fundamental procedural rights, such as the principles of impartiality and adversarial proceedings, like in medieval witch trials. The applicants appealed unsuccessfully. Law : The impugned statements had been value judgments based on facts. They made it sufficiently clear that the criticism concerned the judgment and not the alleged deficiencies by the judge in conducting the proceedings. Moreover, the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings against the judge in question proved that he had not discharged his duties in a manner fitting for a judge. In the circumstances of the case, the applicants' interest in disseminating information on the subject-matter, admittedly formulated in a provocative and exaggerated tone, outweighed the judge's interest in protecting his reputation and the standing of the judiciary in general. The applicants had complied with their duties and responsibilities as a public “watch-dog” and the criticism made had not amounted to an unjustified or destructive attack against the judge concerned or the judiciary as such. Thus, the reasons adduced by the domestic courts had not been “relevant and sufficient” to justify the interference with the applicants' right to freedom of expression. Conclusion : violation (unanimously). Article   41 – EUR 5,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage, as well as some EUR 150 to the first applicant and EUR 10,000 to the second applicant in respect of pecuniary damage.   © Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court. Click here for the Case-Law Information Notes