EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

84
07.02.2007

Press release issued by the Registrar

GRAND CHAMBER HEARING
STOLL v. SWITZERLAND

The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Grand Chamber hearing today 7 February 2007 at 9 a.m., in the case of Stoll v. Switzerland (application no. 69698/01).

The applicant

Martin Stoll, a Swiss national who lives in Zürich (Switzerland), is a journalist.

Summary of the facts

In December 1996 Carlo Jagmetti, who was then the Swiss ambassador to the United States, drew up a “strategic document”, classified as “confidential”, in the course of negotiations between, among others, the World Jewish Congress and Swiss banks concerning compensation due to Holocaust victims for unclaimed assets deposited in Swiss banks.

The document was sent to the person in charge of the matter at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Berne and copies were sent to 19 other people and certain Swiss diplomatic representatives. The applicant obtained a copy, probably as a result of a breach of professional confidence by a person whose identity remains unknown.

On 26 January 1997 the Zürich Sunday newspaper Sonntags-Zeitung published two articles by the applicant under the headings “Carlo Jagmetti offends the Jews” and “The ambassador in bathrobe and climbing boots puts his foot in it again”, accompanied by extracts from the report in question. The next day the Zürich daily Tages-Anzeiger reproduced large extracts from the strategic document and subsequently the newspaper Nouveau Quotidien also published extracts from the report.

On 22 January 1999 Zürich District Court sentenced the applicant to a fine of 800 Swiss francs (approximately 520 euros) Appeals lodged by the applicant were dismissed at last instance by the Federal Court on 5 December 2000.

The Swiss Press Council, to which the case had been referred by the Swiss Federal Council in the meantime, accepted that publication had been legitimate, given the importance of the public debate concerning the assets of Holocaust victims. However, it found that by thus shortening the analysis and failing to place the report sufficiently in context, the applicant had irresponsibly made the ambassador’s remarks appear sensational and shocking.

Complaints

The applicant submits that his conviction had infringed Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Procedure

The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 14 May 2001 and declared admissible on 3 May 2005. In its Chamber judgment of 25 April 2006 (press release No. 234, 2006) the Court held, by four votes to three, that there had been a violation of Article 10 of the Convention. Under Article 43 the case was referred to the Grand Chamber at the Government’s request. 

Composition of the Court

The case will be heard by the Grand Chamber composed as follows:

Jean-Paul Costa (French), President,
Christos Rozakis (Greek),
Boštjan M. Zupančič (Slovenian),
Peer Lorenzen (Danish),
Luzius Wildhaber (Swiss),
Riza Türmen (Turkish),
Margarita Tsatsa-Nikolovska (citizen of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”)
András Baka (Hungarian),
Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian),
Anatoli Kovler (Russian),
Vladimiro Zagrebelsky (Italian),
Antonella Mularoni (San Marinese),
Elisabet Fura-Sandström (Swedish),
Egbert Myjer (Dutch),
Dragoljub Popović (Serbian),
Ineta Ziemele (Latvian),
Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre (Monegasque), judges,
Renate Jaeger (German),
Kristaq Traja (Albanian),
John Hedigan (Irish), substitute judges,

and also Vincent Berger, jurisconsult.

Representatives of the parties

Government:	Frank Schürmann, Agent, 
	Paul Seger, Adrian Scheidegger, Dominique Steiger, Counsel;

Applicant:	Helen Keller, Simon Canonica, Andreas Durisch, Daniela Kühne, Andreas Fischer, Magdalena Forowicz, Counsel.

The applicant, Martin Stoll, will also attend the hearing.

***

After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. Judgment will be delivered at a later date.

This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court. The full texts of the Court’s judgments are accessible on its Internet site (http://www.echr.coe.int).

Press contacts
Emma Hellyer (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)
Stéphanie Klein (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54)
Beverley Jacobs (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 54 21)

The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.