CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 25 septembre 2002

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s5FFF0A77 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:1pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s94935B0F { width:389.85pt; display:inline-block } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s76CF415B { page-break-before:always; clear:both } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s69BE285C { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:85.05pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-85.05pt } .s18D96D33 { width:15.69pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .sBF401EEE { width:32.35pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .sD776F88E { width:23.03pt; display:inline-block } .sCB27B9E { width:16.66pt; display:inline-block } .s23A41E03 { width:36pt; display:inline-block }   EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS     453   25.9.2002   Press release issued by the Registrar   GRAND CHAMBER HEARING ON THE MERITS IN THE CASE OF PERNA v. ITALY   Wednesday 25 September 2002 at 9.00 a.m.     The applicant   The case concerns an application (no. 48898/99) brought by an Italian national, Giancarlo Perna, a journalist who was born in 1940 and lives in Rome.   Summary of the facts   On 21 November 1993 he published an article in the daily newspaper Il Giornale about a member of the State legal service, a Mr G. Caselli, who was at that time the Principal Public Prosecutor in Palermo. The article was entitled “Caselli, the judge with the white tuft” ( Caselli, il ciuffo bianco della giustizia ) and bore the sub-title “Catholic schooling, communist militancy – like his friend Violante...” ( Scuola dai preti, militanza comunista come l’amico Violante... ).   The article began by criticising Mr Caselli’s political militancy, referring to “a threefold oath of obedience – to God, to the law and to via Botteghe Oscure [the headquarters of the former Italian Communist Party, now those of the PDS – the Democratic Party of the Left] ( un triplo giuramento di obbedienza: A Dio, alla Legge, a Botteghe Oscure ). It went on to accuse Mr Caselli of taking part in a campaign to take control of the public prosecutors’ offices in various Italian cities and of using a criminal-turned-informer, the “ pentito ” T. Buscetta, in an attempt to destroy the political career of Mr G. Andreotti, a very well-known Italian statesman, by accusing him of aiding and abetting a mafia-type organisation ( appoggio esterno alla mafia ), even though he knew that he would eventually have to discontinue the proceedings against him for lack of evidence.   Mr Caselli lodged a complaint alleging defamation and on 10 January 1996 the Monza District Court found Mr Perna and the then editor of Il Giornale , Mr I. Montanelli, guilty of aggravated defamation. Mr Perna appealed.   The Milan Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal on 28 October 1997. It held that the passage concerning the oath of obedience was defamatory because it indicated dependence on the instructions of a political party and that the allegations in the remainder of the article were very serious and highly defamatory in that they were not backed up by any evidence. It ruled that it was not necessary to conduct the investigative measures requested by the applicant since his remarks about Caselli’s political leanings and the use of a “ pentito ” in the proceedings against Mr Andreotti were not defamatory and therefore did not have to be proved. The Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal. Complaints The applicant in substance raised two complaints. In the first place, he complained of an infringement of his right to defend himself, since the Italian courts had refused throughout the proceedings to admit the evidence he had sought to adduce, including cross-examination of the complainant, in breach of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights. He further alleged a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) both on account of the Italian courts’ decision on the merits and on account of the restrictions on his defence rights as previously alleged.   Procedure   The application was lodged on 22 March 1999 and declared admissible on 14 December 2000.   In its Chamber judgment (25 July 2001) in the case, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been no violation of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) and, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 10 as regards the applicant’s conviction for alleging, in the form of a symbolic expression, that a senior member of the Italian State legal service had taken an oath of obedience to the former Communist Party.   The Government and the applicant requested that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber under Article 43 (referral to the Grand Chamber) of the Convention and on 12 December 2001 the panel of the Grand Chamber accepted that request. The President of the Grand Chamber granted Mr Caselli leave to submit written comments and to take part in the hearing as a third-party intervener (article 61 § 3 of the rules of Court).   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by the Grand Chamber composed as follows:   Luzius Wildhaber (Swiss), President , Christos Rozakis (Greek), Jean-Paul Costa (French), Georg Ress (German), Nicolas Bratza (British), Benedetto Conforti (Italian), Elisabeth Palm (Swedish), Ireneu Cabral Barreto (Portuguese), Volodymyr Butkevych (Ukrainian), Boštjan Zupančič (Slovenian), John Hedigan (Irish), Wilhelmina Thomassen (Dutch), Matti Pellonpää (Finnish), Snejana Botoucharova (Bulgarian), Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian), Elisabeth Steiner (Austrian), Stanislav Pavlovschi (Moldovan), judges , Antonio Pastor Ridruejo (Spanish), Françoise Tulkens (Belgian), substitute judges , and also Paul Mahoney , Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government:   Francesco Crisafulli , Deputy Co-Agent ;   Applicant:   Gian Domenico Caiazza , Counsel;   Third Party:   Carlo Smuraglia, Counsel.   Giancarlo Caselli (third party) will also attend the hearing.   ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. Judgment will be delivered at a later date.   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: (0)3 90 21 42 15) Fax: (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. On 1 November 1998 a full-time Court was established, replacing the original two-tier system of a part-time Commission and Court.