CEDH · PRESS;HEARINGS;ENG — 13 décembre 2006

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FRANCE JULY v. FRANCE   The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Grand Chamber hearing today at 9 a.m., on the admissibility and merits in the cases of Lindon & Otchakovsky-Laurens v. France (application no. 21279/02) and July v. France (no. 36448/02).   The applicants   The applicants, Mathieu Lindon, Paul Otchakovsky-Laurens and Serge July, are French nationals who were born in 1955, 1944 and 1949 respectively and live in Paris. Mr Lindon is a writer, Mr Otchakovsky-Laurens is the chairman of the board of directors of the publishing company P.O.L., and Mr July was the publication director of the daily newspaper Libération .   Summary of the facts   In August 1998 P.O.L. published a novel by Mr Lindon with the title Le Procès de Jean ‑ Marie Le Pen (“Jean-Marie Le Pen on Trial”). The novel recounts the trial of a Front National militant, who, while putting up posters for his party with other militants, committed the cold-blooded murder of a young man of North African descent and has admitted that it was a racist crime. He is defended by a Jewish, left-wing and homosexual lawyer. The novel is based on real events and in particular the murders, in 1995, of Brahim Bouaram, a young Moroccan who was thrown into the Seine by skinheads during a Front National march, and of Ibrahim Ali, a young Frenchman of Comorian origin who was killed in Marseilles by militants of the same party. The novel raises questions about the responsibility of Mr Le Pen, Chairman of the Front National , in murders committed by militants, and about the effectiveness of strategies to combat the far right.   The Front National and Mr Le Pen, complaining of defamation on account of remarks in the novel, brought proceedings against the writer and his publisher in Paris Criminal Court. The court found that the offence of defamation was made out in respect of four passages from the offending book, in which it was written that Mr Le Pen headed a group of killers, that the Front National used violence against anyone who left the party, that behind each of Mr   Le   Pen’s assertions “loomed the spectre of the worst abominations of the history of mankind”, that he was a “vampire” who thrived on the “bitterness of his electorate” and on the “blood of his enemies”, and that he was a liar who used defamation against his opponents to deflect accusations away from himself.   On 11 October 1999 the court convicted Mr Otchakovsky-Laurens of defamation and Mr   Lindon of complicity in that offence, and sentenced each of them to pay a fine equivalent to EUR   2,286.74 euros, further ordering them, jointly and severally, to pay EUR   3,811.23 in damages to Mr Le Pen and to the Front National . In a judgment of 13 September 2000, on an appeal lodged by Mr Lindon and Mr   Otchakovsky-Laurens, Paris Court of Appeal upheld their convictions in respect of three out of the four passages in question. On 27 November 2001 a further appeal on points of law was dismissed by the Court of Cassation.   In its edition of 16 November 1999 the newspaper Libération published an article in the form of a petition signed by 97 writers to protest about the conviction of Mr Lindon and Mr   Otchakovsky-Laurens on charges of defamation and complicity in defamation against Mr   Le Pen.   Mr July was summoned by the Front National and Mr Le Pen to appear before Paris Criminal Court, which, in a judgment of 7 September 2000, found him guilty of defamation and sentenced him to pay a fine equivalent to EUR 2,286.74, together with EUR   3,811.23 in damages, for having reproduced the passages from the novel that had been found to constitute defamation and on account of which the other two applicants had been convicted.   Mr July’s conviction was upheld by Paris Court of Appeal on 21 March 2001. On 3 April 2002 the Court of Cassation dismissed an appeal he had lodged on points of law.   Complaints   The applicants complained that their criminal convictions had entailed a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the Convention. Mr July also complained, under Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial), that he was not heard by an independent court, as two out of the three judges on the bench of the Paris Court of Appeal which ruled on his case had also sat on the bench which upheld the other applicants’ conviction of defamation and complicity in defamation.   Procedure   The applications Lindon & Otchakovsky-Laurens v. France and July v. France were lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 23 May 2002 and 27 September 2002 respectively. On 1 June 2006, under Article 30 [1] of the Convention, the Chamber dealing with the cases relinquished jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber.   Composition of the Court   The cases will be heard by the Grand Chamber composed as follows:   Luzius Wildhaber (Swiss), President , Christos Rozakis (Greek), Jean-Paul Costa (French), Nicolas Bratza (British), Boštjan M. Zupančič (Slovenian), Peer Lorenzen (Danish), Loukis Loucaides (Cypriot) Françoise Tulkens (Belgian), Josep Casadevall (Andorran), Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian), Elisabeth Steiner (Austrian), Lech Garlicki (Polish), Khanlar Hajiyev (Azerbaijani), Renate Jaeger (German), Sverre Erik Jebens (Norwegian), Danutė Jočienė (Lithuanian), Ján Šikuta (Slovakian), judges , David Thór Björgvinsson (Icelandic), Stanislav Pavlovschi (Moldovan), substitute judges , and also Michael O’Boyle , Deputy Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government :   Anne-Françoise Tissier , Agent ,   Marie Mongin , Olivia Diégo , Counsel ;   Applicants :   Roland Rappaport , Jean-Paul Levy , 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.   Press contacts 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)   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.   [1] Where a case pending before a Chamber raises a serious question affecting the interpretation of the Convention or the protocols thereto, or where the resolution of a question before the Chamber might have a result inconsistent with a judgment previously delivered by the Court, the Chamber may, at any time before it has rendered its judgment, relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber, unless one of the parties to the case objects.