In the case of Giesbert and Others v. France the Court held that there had been no violation of the freedom of expression.

The case concerned the conviction of the applicants – the publication director of Le Point magazine and two journalists working for that weekly – for defamation as a result of the publication, in 2014, of an article entitled “The Copé Affair” on the Bygmalion company and its links to the UMP political party and to that party’s then leader.

The Court saw no serious reason to call into question the assessment unanimously made by the domestic courts in the present case. It considered that it could reasonably have appeared to them that the applicants had failed to perform the requisite due diligence when verifying the accuracy of the facts alleged and that the offending article, which had presented the information and material reported therein as “The Copé Affair”, had been the product of a deliberate editorial decision lacking a sufficient basis in fact.

Taking the view that the sanction imposed on the applicants – a criminal fine – had not been disproportionate to the legitimate aim pursued, the Court concluded that the domestic courts had had reason to consider that the interference with the applicants’ right to freedom of expression was necessary, in a democratic society, for the protection of the “reputation or rights of others”.

• Press release