BRATISLAVA, July 26, (WEBNOVINY) – Slovakia has lost a legal dispute against the publishing house Ringier Axel Springer Slovakia, a.s. at the European Court of Human Rights, the Justice Ministry’s spokeswoman Lenka Skorpilova told SITA. The dispute concerned a series of articles on parliamentary deputy, SNS leader and the then mayor of Zilina Jan Slota. The plaintiff, however, was not Slota, but the then Police Vice President Jozef Petras.
In June 1999, the Slovak tabloid NOVY CAS as well as its Internet version published a series of articles reporting that on June 14. reporters as well as other persons saw Slota and Petras in a restaurant as drinking alcohol, while both of them appeared to be intoxicated and behaved inappropriately according to eye witnesses.
In 2001, Petras filed a libel suit against the legal predecessor of the tabloid’s publisher. The then police vice president admitted to moderate drinking, rejecting all other statements from the articles. In 2003, the Zilina Regional Court accepted Petras’ complaint and ordered the publisher to pay him a reimbursement worth over EUR 33,000 in addition to publishing an apology. Ringier appealed the decision in 2004, while the court confirmed its original decision but it halved the compensation. The publisher then brought the case to the Constitutional Court, which turned down the motion.
In its complaint to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, Ringier objected to the Slovak courts’ decision, saying that they one-sidedly favored the plaintiff, stating contradicting arguments, as well as violation of the right to freedom of expression. Strasbourg ruled that the publisher’s right to freedom of expression was violated. Ringier did not demand any financial compensation.
SITA