European Court of Human Rights

ECHR ruling on Bettencourt tapes: a defeat for the freedom of information

France

The European Court of Human Rights has found that the French state did not violate the principle of freedom of expression by imposing on Mediapart the censorship, in 2013, of 70 articles which revealed the vast criminal scandal of the so-called “Bettencourt affair”, based on tape recordings made by billionaire Liliane Bettencourt’s major-domo. Fabrice Arfi details the case.  

France taken to EU rights court over stranded jihadist children

International — Link

The grandparents of a three-year-old boy and his sister aged four, who were wounded and captured with their French mother after the fall of the Islamic State stronghold of Baghouz and who are currently stranded in a detention camp in north-east Syria, have begun legal action against the French state before the European Court of Human Rights for refusing to repatriate the three. 

Defending the indefensible: the French state's justification of press censorship in the Bettencourt affair

France — Analysis

In July 2013, Mediapart was ordered by a French court to remove all its published articles that cited secret tape recordings made by the butler of Liliane Bettencourt which provided evidence of how the late heiress to the L’Oréal cosmetics giant, suffering from dementia, was despoiled of part of her wealth by her close entourage. The tapes were at the centre of what became known as the Bettencourt affair and led to the convictions of several of those involved in the scam. Yet the censorship of the contents of the recordings remains, and Mediapart has challenged the ruling before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Mediapart publishing editor Edwy Plenel analyses here the French state’s submission to the ECHR in defence of the censorship, and highlights its absurd and contradictory attempt to justify the violation of the right to know.

Anti-Semite comedian Dieudonné loses European rights court appeal

France — Link

Human rights court upholds hate crime conviction in France after show with Holocaust denier and an actor dressed as concentration camp inmate.

European court rules French doctors can cease care of man in seven-year coma

International — Link

The move to discontinue life-support care of Vincent Lambert, 39, left tetraplegic by a road accident, caused bitter divisions among his family.

Mediapart takes Bettencourt censorship case to European Court of Human Rights

France

France’s highest court the Cour de Cassation has upheld the ruling that censored Mediapart's coverage of the Bettencourt affair. The decision confirms that more than 70 articles detailing the secret recordings made by the Bettencourt family's butler must remain suppressed, even though the revelation of the content of these very recordings has led to a string of scandals and high-profile judicial investigations. Editor François Bonnet says that faced with this anti-freedom stance by the top French courts, who have given the right to privacy complete precedence over the public's right to know, Mediapart has no choice but to appeal to Europe.

European Court upholds French full veil ban

France — Link

A 24-year-old French woman had claimed the 2010 ban on wearing the veil in public violated her freedom of religion and expression.

Muslim woman challenges French veil ban in European rights' court

France — Link

Arguing that the niqab is part of her "religious faith, culture and personal convictions" she calls for France's full-face veil ban to be overturned.

French same-sex couple lose ECHR discrimination claim over adoption rights

France — Link

The European Court of Human Rights rejects a French lesbian couple's claim for discrimination over a law barring them from 'simple adoption' rights.

Soros fails in bid to clear his name over French insider trading conviction

International — Link

The European Court of Human Rights rules French courts were in their right to convict billionaire investor George Soros for insider trading.