Brosa v. Germany - 5709/09 - Legal Summary [2014] ECHR 549 (17 April 2014)

Brosa v. Germany - 5709/09 - Legal Summary [2014] ECHR 549 (17 April 2014)

The domestic courts failed to strike a fair balance between the protection of personality rights and the right to freedom of expression by requiring a disproportionately high degree of factual proof for statements that were value judgments in a political context.

Citation
[2014] ECHR 549
Parties
Applicant: Brosa; Respondent: Germany; Third Party: F. G.
Jurisdiction
European Union
Judgment Date
17 April 2014
Procedural Posture
Application to European Court of Human Rights / Final Judgment
Outcome
violation of Article 10 unanimously found
Legal Topics
Freedom of Expression, Injunction, Personality Rights
Human Rights Constitutional Law Freedom of Expression Injunction Personality Rights

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Parties

Brosa

Applicant

Germany

Respondent

F. G.

Third Party

Procedural Posture

Application to European Court of Human Rights / Final Judgment

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the injunction restraining distribution of the leaflet violated the applicant's right to freedom of expression under Article 10
  2. 2 Whether the domestic courts required a disproportionally high degree of factual proof for statements of political opinion

Ratio Decidendi

The domestic courts failed to strike a fair balance between the protection of personality rights and the right to freedom of expression by requiring a disproportionately high degree of factual proof for statements that were value judgments in a political context.

Court Disposition

violation of Article 10 unanimously found

Orders

  • EUR 3,000 awarded to applicant for non-pecuniary damage