CEDH · PRESS;HEARINGS;ENG — 2 mars 2006

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s69BE285C { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:85.05pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-85.05pt } .s9A223E1B { width:11.03pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s595A57E4 { width:85.05pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .sA8C2B9B0 { width:20.37pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s9F8EB0C0 { width:18.63pt; display:inline-block } .s9E97F54A { width:85.05pt; display:inline-block } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   111 2.3.2006   Press release issued by the Registrar   CHAMBER HEARING LEEMPOEL & S.A. EDITIONS CINE REVUE v. BELGIUM   The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Chamber hearing today 2 March 2006 at 9   a.m., on the admissibility and merits in the case of Leempoel & S.A. Editions Cine Revue v. Belgium (application no. 64772/01).   The applicants   The case concerns the withdrawal from sale and the prohibition on distribution of an issue of the magazine Ciné Télé Revue which had published notes prepared by an investigating judge for a hearing before the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Dutroux case [1] .   The applicants are S.A. Editions Ciné Revue, a publishing company incorporated under Belgian law with its registered office in Brussels, and the publisher of Ciné Télé Revue , Marcel Leempoel, an 81-year-old Belgian national who lives in Brussels.   Summary of the facts   In October 1996 the House of Representatives set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry to examine “the manner in which the police and judicial investigations were conducted in the Dutroux   case”. D., the investigating judge who had been responsible for the investigation into the abduction of two girls, gave evidence to the commission on 17 and 18 December 1996. Following the second hearing the chairman of the commission asked her to hand over the file she had brought with her in preparation, which contained a series of documents including personal notes about her defence and recommendations from her lawyer as to how to communicate and conduct herself before the commission. After the file had been handed over, it was made available to members of the commission of inquiry, who were nonetheless obliged to consult it on the premises and were unable to make copies of it.   On 30 January 1997 the weekly magazine Ciné Télé Revue published an article which contained lengthy extracts from the preparatory file which the judge had handed to the parliamentary commission of inquiry. The article was advertised on the front cover of the magazine by the headline “Exclusive – A surprising attitude: how Judge D. prepared her defence – Revelations from her file”, superimposed on a photograph of the judge. The disclosures received substantial press coverage.   On the same day, on an application by Judge D., the urgent-applications judge of the Brussels Court of First Instance ordered Mr Leempoel to take all necessary steps to remove every copy of the magazine from sales outlets within three hours after notification of the decision, with a penalty of approximately 250 euros (EUR) per copy for failure to comply, and prohibited him from subsequently distributing any copy featuring the same cover and the same article.   On 5 February 1997 the urgent-applications judge, on a third-party appeal by the applicants, upheld the order and extended it to the company itself, holding that the documents that had been published were subject to the rules on confidentiality of parliamentary inquiries and that their publication appeared to have breached the right to due process and the judge’s right to respect for her private life. The Brussels Court of Appeal likewise upheld the order. In a judgment of 29   June 2000 the Court of Cassation dismissed an appeal on points of law by the applicants.   Complaints   The applicants submit that the ruling against them infringed Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights. They further maintain that Article   25 of the Belgian Constitution, which forbids censorship of the press, affords a greater degree of protection than Article 10 of the Convention and that its application should accordingly have been safeguarded by Article 53 (safeguard for existing human rights) of the Convention.   Procedure   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 21 December 2000.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   Christos Rozakis (Greek), President , Loukis Loucaides (Cypriot), Elisabeth Steiner (Austrian), Khanlar Hajiyev (Azerbaijani), Dean Spielmann (Luxemburger), Sverre Erik Jebens (Norwegian), judges , Jean Claude Geus (Belgian), ad hoc judge , Snejana Botoucharova (Bulgarian), Anatoli Kovler (Russian), substitute judges , and also Søren Nielsen , Section Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government :   Claude Debrulle , Agent ,   Annemie Schaus , Alexander Hoefmans , Counsel ;   Applicants :   Antoine De Le Court , Marianne Leempoel , Counsel .   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. A decision on admissibility, followed if appropriate by a judgment, will be delivered at a later date.   ***     Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Press contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)   Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54)   Beverley Jacobs (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 54 21) Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1 November 1998 it has sat as a full-time Court composed of an equal number of judges to that of the States party to the Convention. The Court examines the admissibility and merits of applications submitted to it. It sits in Chambers of 7 judges or, in exceptional cases, as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe supervises the execution of the Court’s judgments. More detailed information about the Court and its activities can be found on its Internet site. [1] The “Dutroux case” led to the prosecution of a number of suspected paedophiles in Belgium in the 1990s. In 2004 the main defendant, Marc Dutroux, was found guilty of having abducted, held captive, raped and murdered several young girls and was sentenced to life imprisonment.