(RSF/IFEX) – On 25 June 2002, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned France for violating Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, pertaining to freedom of expression and the right to inform. The newspaper “Le Monde” had appealed to the Strasbourg-based court after the Paris Appeals Court had found the daily […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 25 June 2002, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned France for violating Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, pertaining to freedom of expression and the right to inform. The newspaper “Le Monde” had appealed to the Strasbourg-based court after the Paris Appeals Court had found the daily guilty of “insulting” the king of Morocco, in March 1997, in accordance with Article 36 of the 1881 press law, pertaining to insults towards foreign heads of state. The appeals court had backed up the sentence.
RSF welcomes the ECHR’s decision. The organisation wrote to French Justice Minister Dominique Perben on 26 June, noting that, “The provision on insulting foreign heads of state is a good example of why French legislation on the press is among the most reactionary in Europe in the area of information freedom. It is unacceptable today that heads of state should benefit from excessive privileges and be protected beyond the regular defamation provisions,” stated RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “The truth is that press freedom is often the French courts’ last concern. In recent months, yet again, French courts have delivered several verdicts that run counter to the freedom to inform. The European Court has again drawn attention to this. We ask for a review of the clauses that unnecessarily and excessively frame information freedom in France,” added Ménard in his letter.
RSF recalls that on 28 September 2001, the appeals court confirmed “L’Evénement du Jeudi” magazine’s sentence for insulting the Togolese prime minister. The decision followed the publication of an article which highlighted the prime minister’s links with the Mandarom sect. On the other hand, in another case in 2001, the Paris Magistrate’s Court deemed the special protection accorded by French law to foreign heads of state to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
RSF recalls that French courts have delivered many more verdicts against the press in recent months. These verdicts run counter to ECHR jurisprudence, which holds that this is an important right because “safeguarding press freedom is in the interest of a democratic society.” In 2001, journalists were either indicted on or convicted of: defamation for articles investigating matters of public interest such as scandals (about illegal arms sale to Angola, blood transfusions); “jeopardising the presumption of innocence” in accordance with new provisions to the 15 June 2000 law (for the publication of a photo of former Elf Aquitaine oil company chief Alfred Sirven in the Santé prison); and “invasion of privacy”, when photographers originally cleared in 1999 of involvement in Princess Diana’s accidental death, faced new charges in 2001 for taking photographs of the accident. Moreover, the appeals court confirmed the existence of a new crime for journalists, that of possession of confidential material from a preliminary inquiry. In 1999, however, the ECHR condemned France in a similar case, stating that convicting journalists for possession of confidential professional material constituted an abnormal “impediment” to freedom of expression from judicial authorities. Lastly, there have been regular challenges to the right of journalists to protect their sources.
