Religion – Weltanschauung – Recht [ RWR ]

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of M.L. v. Slovakia (application no. 34159/17) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case concerned three 2006 newspaper articles about the applicant’s son – a former parish priest – after his passing, and the ensuing court proceedings. The articles had combined certain elements from the criminal case files of the applicant’s son’s convictions with frivolous and unverified statements, in particular around the man’s death and alleged confessions. The Court found in particular that a criminal conviction did not deprive a convicted person of his or her right to be forgotten, and the applicant’s son could not be deprived of the protections of Article 8. The articles in question had been sensationalist and had not made a contribution to the debate around sexual abuse by Catholic clergymen. The domestic courts overall had failed to adequately balance the freedom of expression of the newspapers with the applicant’s right to privacy. Den Rest des Beitrags lesen »