ECtHR: Conviction for publishing court proceedings is violation of the freedom of speech
by Sofie Luise Burger The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decided on 22 March 2016 (application no. 48718/11) that the conviction of a journalist for publishing unauthorized recordings of a criminal trial violates art. 10 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The applicant is a crime reporter for a Portuguese TV-channel. In November 2005, the channel had aired a segment on a criminal conviction of an 18-year-old for aggravated theft of a mobile phone. In her report, the journalist defended the innocence of the adolescent and claimed the verdict was an error of justice. The report included shots of…
