Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: Freedom of Expression

  • Guest Blogger

Prosecution of a publisher for ‘denigration’ of Turkey violated Article 10

October 29, 2018

This blog post was written by Ronan Ó Fathaigh On 4 September 2018, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a unanimous judgment on Turkey’s controversial Article 301 insult law, and for the first time applied Article 46 of the European Convention, holding that amending the insult law would “constitute an appropriate form of execution” of […]

  • Guest Blogger

Comparing the Proposed EU Directive on Protection of Whistleblowers with the Principles of the European Court of Human Rights

October 22, 2018

By Vigjilenca Abazi (fellow at Yale Law School) and Flutura Kusari (legal advisor at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom) In April 2018, the European Commission put forward a much-anticipated ‘package of measures’ to strengthen whistleblower protection in the European Union. This includes a proposal for a Directive on the protection of persons […]

  • Guest Blogger

Savva Terentyev v. Russia: criminal conviction for inciting hatred against the police violated a blogger’s freedom of expression

October 09, 2018

By Dirk Voorhoof (Human Rights Centre, Ghent University and Legal Human Academy) In Savva Terentyev v. Russia the ECtHR has applied a very high level of free speech-protection for aggressively insulting and hostile comments about police officers, published on a weblog. The ECtHR observes that some of the wording in the blog post was offensive, […]

  • Guest Blogger

Pussy Riot, the right to protest and to criticise the President, and the Patriarch: Mariya Alekhina and Others v. Russia

September 11, 2018

By Dirk Voorhoof, Human Rights Centre, Ghent University and Legal Human Academy In its judgment of 17 July 2018 the ECtHR has found various violations of the rights of the members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot. The ECtHR found violations under Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Article 5 § 3 […]

  • Guest Blogger

No overbroad suppression of extremist opinions and ‘hate speech’

June 12, 2018

By Dirk Voorhoof, Human Rights Centre, Ghent University and Legal Human Academy In its recent judgment in Stomakhin v. Russia, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) launched the message to all domestic authorities to adopt a “cautious approach” in determining the scope of “hate speech” crimes and to avoid “excessive interference” with the right […]

  • Guest Blogger

Resuscitating the Turkish Constitutional Court: The ECtHR’s Alpay and Altan Judgments

April 03, 2018

Written by Senem Gurol, PhD candidate at Ghent University Introduction After the failed coup d’etat in Turkey, critics have raised concerns about the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR or the Court) ability and willingness to provide an effective remedy for the human rights violations occurred. These concerns arose from the Strasbourg Court’s recent inadmissibility decisions […]

  • Guest Blogger

Conviction for performance-art protest at war memorial did not violate Article 10

March 19, 2018

By Ronan Ó Fathaigh and Dirk Voorhoof The European Court’s Fourth Section has held, by four votes to three, that a protestor’s conviction, including a suspended three-year prison sentence, for frying eggs over the flame of a war memorial, did not violate the protestor’s freedom of expression. The judgment in Sinkova v. Ukraine prompted a […]

  • Guest Blogger

The right of journalistic newsgathering during demonstrations

March 06, 2018

By Dirk Voorhoof and Daniel Simons In a case about a Ukrainian journalist being arrested during an anti-globalisation protest in Russia, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Butkevich v. Russia (13 February 2018) has clarified that the gathering of information is an essential preparatory step in journalism and an inherent, protected part of […]

  • Guest Blogger

Egill Einarsson v Iceland: the Court deals with an offensive Instagram post

January 19, 2018

This guest post was written by Ingrida Milkaite, Ghent University* On 7 November 2017 the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR, the Court) found a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The main issue at hand was the Court’s assessment of whether the right balance between the applicant’s right […]

  • Guest Blogger

The European Court & Defamation of the Dead: searching for clarity

December 08, 2017

By Jonathan McCully (Media Legal Defence Initiative / Columbia Global Freedom of Expression) On 28 November 2017, in MAC TV v. Slovakia, the European Court of Human Rights (European Court) found a violation of the right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the Convention where the Broadcasting Council of Slovakia had fined a […]

  • Guest Blogger

Tamiz v. UK: Google’s blog-publishing service is not liable for offensive comments

November 23, 2017

This guest post was written by Ingrida Milkaite (Ghent University)* On 12 October 2017 the European Court of Human Rights (the Court, the ECtHR) decided on the liability of Google Inc. as an information society service provider for offensive comments posted below a blog post about Mr Payam Tamiz. His application filed under article 8 […]

  • Guest Blogger

Robust protection of journalistic sources remains a basic condition for press freedom

October 10, 2017

By Dirk Voorhoof, Human Rights Center UGent, Legal Human Academy and member of the European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) In the judgment in the case Becker v. Norway the ECtHR showed once more its concern about the importance of the protection of journalistic sources for press freedom and investigative journalism in particular. […]

  • Guest Blogger

Medžlis Islamske Zajednice Brčko v Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Simple Speech Case Made Unbelievably Complex?

August 09, 2017

By Stijn Smet, Melbourne Law School. Stijn is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the ARC Laureate Program in Comparative Constitutional Law and co-editor with Eva Brems of the new volume When Human Rights Clash at the European Court of Human Rights: Conflict or Harmony? (OUP, 2017) Imagine, if you will, two scenarios. The first involves four […]

  • Laurens Lavrysen

Bayev and Others v. Russia: on Judge Dedov’s outrageously homophobic dissent

July 13, 2017

Earlier this week, we published a blog post by Pieter Cannoot and Claire Poppelwell-Scevak on the judgment of Bayev and Others v. Russia in which the Court held that Russia’s so-called gay propaganda law violated the European Convention. In this blog post, I will not further dwell upon the outcome of the case or the […]

  • Guest Blogger

ECtHR finds Russia’s gay propaganda law discriminatory in strong-worded judgment

July 11, 2017

By Pieter Cannoot, PhD researcher, Human Rights Centre (Ghent University) and Claire Poppelwell-Scevak, FWO Research Fellow, Human Rights Centre (Ghent University) On 20 June 2017, the European Court of Human Rights issued a particularly strong-worded judgment in the case of Bayev and Others v. Russia. The Court not only found Russia’s legislative prohibition of the […]

  • Guest Blogger

No journalism exception for massive exposure of personal taxation data

July 05, 2017

By Dirk Voorhoof, Ghent University, Human Rights Centre.  After long proceedings at national level, after a preliminary ruling by the EU Court of Justice on 16 December 2008 (Case C-73/07), and after the European Court of Human Rights Chamber judgment of 21 July 2015, the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR on 27 June 2017 finally […]

  • Ronan Ó Fathaigh

Independent Newspapers v. Ireland: €1.25 million defamation award against newspaper violated Article 10

June 19, 2017

The European Court’s Fifth Section has unanimously held that a damages award made against an Irish newspaper for defamation violated the right to freedom of expression, under Article 10 of the European Convention. While the judgment in Independent Newspapers v. Ireland concerned Irish defamation law prior to reforms brought about in 2009, it is still […]

  • Guest Blogger

Orloskaya iskra v. Russia: Reporting in media during election campaign must be free from content restrictions

April 21, 2017

By Galina Arapova, Director of Mass Media Defence Centre, senior media lawyer, Russia On 21 February, the Court delivered its judgment in the case of Orloskaya iskra v. Russia, concerning the use of electoral laws to curb or restrict media reporting at election time and the circulation of critical opinions and information about candidates, their […]

  • Guest Blogger

Pihl v. Sweden: non-profit blog operator is not liable for defamatory users’ comments in case of prompt removal upon notice

March 20, 2017

by Dirk Voorhoof In its decision of 9 March 2017 in Rolf Anders Daniel Pihl v. Sweden, the ECtHR has clarified the limited liability of operators of websites or online platforms containing defamatory user-generated content. The Court’s decision is also to be situated in the current discussion on how to  prevent or react on  “fake […]

  • Guest Blogger

Selmani and Ors v. FYROM: influential judgment on press galleries and parliamentary reporting

February 14, 2017

Guest post by Jonathan McCully, Legal officer at the Media Legal Defence Initiative, which supported the case, and Editor of Columbia Global Freedom of Expression On 9 February 2017, the European Court of Human Rights handed down an important judgment in Selmani and Ors v. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Application No. 67259/14), a […]

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