CoE: ECtHR on publishing confidential information about ongoing criminal proceedings
by Justyna Gogolewska-ApostelThe Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg decided that the conviction of a journalist for publishing secret information does not violate the right to freedom of expression protected by article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The applicant is a journalist who published an article about criminal proceedings against a driver who had rammed his car into pedestrians. Known as the Lausanne Bridge Tragedy, this incident triggered a lot of public attention in Switzerland owed to the gravity of its consequences: three dead and eight wounded. In the article,…