Media Defence publishes a number of legal resources on freedom of expression law.

Deciding on a constitutional complaint filed by journalist Elton Qyno after authorities had seized his professional and personal devices, the Albanian Constitutional Court has handed down its judgment on 22 April 2025. The ruling upholds freedom of the press and recognises the importance of the right to confidentiality of sources. The Constitutional Court found that…

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights is holding a hearing in the case of Danileţ v. Romania on 18 December 2024. The case concerns a disciplinary sanction imposed on a judge by the national judiciary commission in Romania for posting messages on his Facebook account. Read the judgment of the Fourth…

Media Defence has intervened at the ECtHR on a question of when an entry ban brings a journalist within banning state’s jurisdiction. The case involves a Russian national residing in Finland following a granting of refugee status in 2012. The Latvian government imposed an entry ban on the applicant in 2022 on grounds of national…

Media Defence has filed a third-party intervention before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Koumiotis v Greece to protect anonymity online. The case concerns criminal proceedings against the applicant, the owner and manager of an online blog. The applicant, following a series of posts criticising a businessman, was convicted of slanderous defamation. The…

The UK Supreme Court has heard argument over two days in the case of George v Cannell and another. The question the Court has to decide is - What does a claimant need to demonstrate to rely on s3(1) of the Defamation Act 1952 in a claim for malicious falsehood? The Facts The respondent sued the…

On 4 July 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) Grand Chamber delivered its judgment in the case of Hurbain v Belgium. The judgment upheld the lower chamber’s finding that an order to anonymise the subject of an article did not violate the publisher’s freedom of expression. Media Defence, along with a number of…

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has today issued its decision in the case of Bryan and others v. Russia. The ECtHR found that Russia had violated the applicants’ rights to freedom of expression and to liberty and security by arresting and detaining them following the protest organised by Greenpeace activists on its Arctic…

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has handed down its judgment in Sanchez v France. Media Defence intervened with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in the case. The relevant events took place in 2011 and 2012. The applicant, a politician, was charged with the offence of incitement to hatred or violence following…

Media Defence has filed an intervention before the Constitutional Court of Colombia in a constitutional challenge to two provisions of the Colombian Penal Code. Under Articles 220 and 221 of the Penal Code, individuals accused of making “dishonourable accusations” can face up to four-and-a-half years in jail. Those accused of libel face up to six…