ECtHR Grand Chamber decision in Sanchez v France raises serious concerns over online speech
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 intervenes before Colombian Constitutional Court in a challenge to the law on criminal defamation
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 โdishonourable accusationsโ can face up to four-and-a-half years in jail. Those accused of libel face up to six […]
Media Defence interviene ante la Corte Constitucional de Colombia en una impugnaciรณn a la ley de difamaciรณn penalย
Media Defence ha presentado un escrito de amicus curiae ante la Corte Constitucional de Colombia en una demanda de inconstitucionalidad contra dos disposiciones del Cรณdigo Penal colombiano. Segรบn los artรญculos 220 y 221 del Cรณdigo Penal, las personas acusadas de hacer “imputaciones deshonrosas” pueden enfrentarse a penas de hasta cuatro aรฑos y medio de cรกrcel, […]
European Court Grand Chamber finds conviction of whistle-blower in Luxleaks case breached his right to freedom of expression
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the criminal conviction of Luxleaks whistle-blower Raphaรซl Halet in Luxembourg in 2016 was a violation of his article 10 right to freedom of expression. In doing so, the Grand Chamber has made some important observations about the vital role whistle-blowers increasingly […]
Censorship of street art in Colombia: the MOVICE mural and the ‘false positives’ scandal
To celebrate our 15th anniversary, we look back at some of the cases we have worked on that have had positive outcomes for freedom of expression. To start with, we are highlighting the landmark MOVICE mural case, in which the Colombian Constitutional Court ruled in favour of justice and human rights. The โfalse positivesโ scandal […]
Media Defence intervenes at ECtHR in case concerning costs regime in English defamation cases
Media Defence has submitted a third party intervention at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case ofย Malkiewicz and others v UK. The case relates to a defamation action brought against the applicants over an article published in a Polish language newspaper based in London. The proceedings lasted around six years, and went […]
Emilio Palacio Urrutia v Ecuador: The judgment paving the way for anti-SLAPP regulations in the Americas
This month at Media Defence, we focus on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, also known as SLAPPs. SLAPPs are a form of legal harassment that have the purpose of driving information that is in the public interest into the darkness. These types of cases โ aiming to silence speech on matters of public interest โ […]
Strasbourg court finds Russiaโs โforeign agentโ law unlawful
The European Court of Human Rights has handed down its long-awaited judgment in the case of Ecodefence and others v Russia. The Court considered over 60 separate challenges brought by NGOs against Russiaโs foreign agent laws. One of the challenges was brought by our partner organisation Mass Media Defence Centre. Media Defence submitted a third-party […]
Media Defence and EFF intervene in Sanchez v France
Media Defence and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have intervened in a case at the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR, which concerns online users being held liable for third party comments. In Sanchez v Franceย a Frenchย politician was charged with incitement to hatred on religious grounds following comments posted on the โwallโ of his Facebook account […]
Judgment in Moya Chacรณn vs Costa Rica
In February 2022, we intervened in the case of Moya Chacรณn vs. Costa Rica. FLIP, El Veinte and Media Defence submitted a joint amicus brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court). The Court will assess whether a civil penalty against two journalists violated their freedom of expression. The case Ronald Moya Chacรณn […]
Wieder and Guarnieri v UK: Media Defence intervenes in case concerning UK cyber operations abroad
Media Defence has filed a third-party intervention in the cases of Wieder and Guarnieri v United Kingdom at the European Court of Human Rights. The cases are about allegations of interference by UK intelligence agencies with the communications and related data of an Italian national living in Berlin, and a US citizen living in Florida. […]
European Court of Human Rights hands down judgment in Ilฤฑcak v. Turkey (no. 2)
On 14 December 2021 the European Court of Human Rights found violations of the applicantโs rights guaranteed under Articles 5 ยง 1 and 10 in the case of Ilฤฑcak v Turkey (no. 2). Ms Ilicak is a renowned journalist, columnist and editorial writer. In July 2016, following the attempted coup in Turkey, she posted tweets […]