Search results : 241

In a judgment of 17 January 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that the wholesale blocking of access to a new website of an online media company on the grounds that its content “mirrored” the proscribed content on its former website amounted to a violation of the right to freedom of expression and information as guaranteed under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Although judgments of the ECtHR have minimal impact on the practices of the Russian authorities, the judgment in OOO Mediafokus is also relevant for other member states of...

On 16 December 2022, the Council of the European Union adopted a Decision (CFSP) 2022/2478 banning four further media outlets to the list of Russian broadcasters prohibited in the EU, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (see IRIS 2022-3/6).  The Council Decision amended Annex IX of previous Council Decision 2014/512/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine. The new broadcasters are the following: NTV/NTV Mir, Rossiya 1, REN TV and Pervyi Kanal. The list now contains more than a dozen banned media outlets (such...

On 1 December 2022, a new version of the foreign agents’ law enters into force in the Russian Federation. It merges, updates and replaces the norms that have existed since 2012 in the Statute “On the Mass Media”, as well as in the federal statutes on non-commercial organisations and on public associations (see IRIS Extra 2020). The new law, “On Control over Activity of Persons under Foreign Influence”, foresees that foreign funding and/or material assistance are no longer obligatory factors in the designation of the status “foreign agent”: a vaguely-defined...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a judgment on 30 August 2022 confirming, and further elaborating, the guarantees for the protection of journalistic sources under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The ECtHR concluded, unanimously, that the search of a journalist’s flat and the seizure of his electronic devices containing his professional information amounted to a violation of Article 10 ECHR. The ECtHR emphasised the lack of assessment of the necessity and proportionality of the investigating authorities’ actions. It found in particular...

On 14 June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a judgment finding a gross and systemic violation by the Russian state of the right to freedom of association in combination with the right to freedom of expression and information as protected by Articles 11 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The complaints by 73 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), formulated in 61 applications, all concerned the 2012 Foreign Agents Act. The ECtHR found the restrictions imposed by the Russian authorities on the NGOs which had been categorised as “foreign...