Judgment concerning the Russian Federation
In the case of Novaya Gazeta and Others v. Russia the Court held that there had been a violation of the right to freedom of expression.
The case concerned legislation introduced in Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, making it an offence to “discredit the military” or spread “fake news” about its actions.
The Court found that there had been a systemic and widespread pattern of reporting restrictions related to the war in Ukraine, revealing a coordinated effort to suppress dissent rather than counter any threat to national security. Essentially the national courts had criminalised any reporting/statements that contradicted the official narrative describing the invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation”. No effort had been made to balance the competing interests at stake, in particular to take into account a matter of crucial interest to the public, namely a major armed conflict and allegations of war crimes. It also held that there had been a violation of the right of individual application concerning the termination of the publication licence of the newspaper Novaya Gazeta and the blocking of access to its websites, despite interim measures issued by the Court. Lastly it held that there had been a number of other violations of the Convention with regard to five of the individual applicants.