CEDH · PRESS;CHAMBERJUDGMENTS;ENG — 17 juillet 2007

.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 } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s33165EBA { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   515 17.7.2007   Press release issued by the Registrar   CHAMBER JUDGMENT ORMANNI v. ITALY   The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing its Chamber judgment [1] in the case of Ormanni v. Italy (application no. 30278/04).   The Court held, by five votes to two, that there had been a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.   Under Article 41 of the Convention (just satisfaction), the Court awarded the applicant 11,742 euros (EUR) for pecuniary damage and EUR 10,000 for costs and expenses. (The judgment is available only in French.)   1.     Principal facts   The applicant, Roberto Ormanni, is an Italian national who was born in 1963 and lives in Naples. He is a journalist and director of the weekly magazine Oggi .   On 25 January 1995 Oggi published an article by the applicant reporting on an interview with Fabio Gallo. Mr Gallo, a dancer, choreographer and principal of a dance academy in Cosenza, had been accused in 1993 of raping a number of pupils attending his establishment.   The article spoke of Mr Gallo’s fears that the accusations against him were the consequence of his professional activities and of his opposition to a presumed “business committee” made up of the most powerful men in Cosenza. Mr Gallo alleged that the forms he had filled in with a view to obtaining regional subsidies for his dance academy had been stolen. He had lodged a complaint about the theft, but the head of the Cosenza prosecution service at the time, Francesco Serafini – the brother-in-law of the manager of a rival dance academy which had received the subsidies sought by Mr Gallo, had decided to take no further action.   The following issue of Oggi contained a new article setting out Mr Serafini’s version of the events and refuting Mr Gallo’s.   The principal public prosecutor lodged a complaint against the applicant and Mr Gallo alleging defamation. They were charged with defamation through the medium of the press, aggravated by the fact that they had attributed a specific act to the victim and had insulted the State legal service.   On 12 November 2001 Milan Court of Appeal found Mr Ormanni and Mr Gallo guilty as charged and ordered them to pay the principal public prosecutor an interim amount in compensation equivalent to EUR 12,911 and sentenced the applicant to pay a fine of EUR   1,032.   Appeals to the Court of Cassation by Mr Ormanni and Mr Gallo were declared inadmissible.   2.     Procedure and composition of the Court   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 6 August 2004.   Judgment was given by a Chamber of seven judges, composed as follows:   Françoise Tulkens (Belgian), President , András Baka (Hungarian), Ireneu Cabral Barreto (Portuguese), Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian), Vladimiro Zagrebelsky (Italian), Antonella Mularoni (San Marinese), Danutė Jočienė (Lithuanian), judges , and also Sally Dollé , Section Registrar .   3.     Summary of the judgment [2]   Complaint   The applicant complained, under Article 10 of the Convention, that his conviction amounted to an unjustified interference with his right to freedom of expression.   Decision of the Court   Article 10   The Court considered that the applicant’s conviction amounted to interference with his right to freedom of expression, that the interference was provided for in Article 595 of the Criminal Code and that it had the legitimate aim of protecting the reputation or rights of others, more particularly of the man who was the head of the prosecution service at the time.   As to whether the interference was “necessary in a democratic society”, the Court considered that the applicant had discharged his obligation to verify that the factual basis of his article was correct. It noted that the article was presented as an account of an interview with Mr   Gallo in which the latter used the pages of Oggi to set out his arguments, which were by their very nature subjective, in an attempt to persuade the readers of his innocence.   Read as a whole, the article presented Mr Gallo’s fears of the existence of a “business committee”, made up of the most powerful men in Cosenza, who sought to do him harm. It was not unreasonable to take the view that the applicant had endorsed Mr Gallo’s allegations, at least in part, and had not formally distanced himself from them. However, he had not expressed any value judgment concerning the human or professional qualities of Principal Public Prosecutor Serafini, whose name had been mentioned only once in the article, without any suggestion that he was responsible for the bringing of proceedings against Mr   Gallo or that he was a member of the “business committee” which had allegedly sought to harm him.   In those circumstances, the Court considered that, although the applicant’s article contained a degree of provocation, it could not be regarded as a gratuitous personal attack on Mr Serafini. Moreover, Mr Gallo’s remarks were critical of the way justice was administered in Cosenza and possible links between judicial institutions, politicians and private interests; they therefore covered a subject of general interest about which it was legitimate for the press to inform the public.   The Court also attached importance to the fact that Oggi had wasted no time in giving Mr   Serafini the possibility of setting out his version of the events and that the public had thus had the opportunity to compare the two conflicting accounts of the facts.   Having regard to the circumstances of the case, the Court considered that the means employed had been disproportionate to the aim pursued and concluded that there had been a violation of Article 10.     Judges Baka and Jočienė expressed a joint dissenting opinion, which is annexed to the judgment.   ***   The Court’s judgments are accessible on its Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).   Press contacts Emma Hellyer (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15) Stéphanie Klein (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30)   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] Under Article 43 of the Convention, within three months from the date of a Chamber judgment, any party to the case may, in exceptional cases, request that the case be referred to the 17 ‑ member Grand Chamber of the Court. In that event, a panel of five judges considers whether the case raises a serious question affecting the interpretation or application of the Convention or its protocols, or a serious issue of general importance, in which case the Grand Chamber will deliver a final judgment. If no such question or issue arises, the panel will reject the request, at which point the judgment becomes final. Otherwise Chamber judgments become final on the expiry of the three-month period or earlier if the parties declare that they do not intend to make a request to refer. [2] This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.