CEDO-Cazul Cumpănă & Mazăre v. Romania "urca" la Grand Chamber

De urmarit miercurea viitoare...

The European Court of Human Rights will be holding the following hearings in September 2004.

Wednesday 1st September

Grand Chamber - Hearing on the merits

9.00 a.m. Cumpănă & Mazăre v. Romania (application no. 33348/96)

The applicants, Constantin Cumpănă and Radu Mazăre, are Romanian journalists who were born in 1951 and 1968 respectively and live at Constanţa.

In April 1994 they published an article in the Telegraf newspaper, of which Mr Mazăre is the editor, questioning the legality of an agreement whereby Constanţa Town Council had contracted out to a company called Vinalex the task of impounding illegally parked vehicles. The article, which appeared under the headline “Former Deputy Mayor Dan Miron and serving Judge Revi Moga commit series of offences in Vinalex scam”, was accompanied by, among other things, a cartoon showing the judge (Mrs Moga) on the former deputy mayor’s arm, carrying a bag containing banknotes.

Mrs Moga, who had signed the contract with Vinalex on behalf of the town council, sued the applicants. She submitted that the cartoon contained an innuendo that she and the deputy mayor, both of whom were married, had had intimate relations. On 17 May 1995 the applicants were convicted of proffering insults and criminal libel and sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment. An order was also made prohibiting them from working as journalists for one year after they had completed their prison sentences. Their convictions were upheld on appeal.

The public prosecutor’s office applied to have the decision of 17 May 1995 set aside. The Supreme Court of Justice dismissed the application, holding that the article was libellous and that the publication of the cartoon, which was potentially damaging to Mrs Moga’s honour and reputation, constituted the offence of proffering insults.

On 22 November 1996 the Romanian President granted the applicants a pardon releasing them from their custodial sentence. Mr Mazăre continued to work as the editor of the Telegraf, while Mr Cumpănă left the newspaper in 1997 when staff levels were reduced.

The applicants complain that their conviction and sentence for the publication of the article was in breach of Article 10 (right to freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In a Chamber judgment of 12 March 2003, the Court considered that the interference with the applicants’ freedom of expression was not disproportionate to the legitimate aims pursued, namely the protection of the rights of others and of the authority of the judiciary. Accordingly, it held by five votes to two that there had been no violation of Article 10.

On 3 December 2003 the panel of the Grand Chamber accepted the request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber lodged by the applicants on 2 September 2003[1].