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On 16 June 2014, the Federal Department of the Interior (DFI) adopted an order aimed at partially offsetting the negative effects of Switzerland’s non-participation in the MEDIA European programme for encouraging the audiovisual sector (Order on MEDIA compensatory measures). The Order, which came into effect retroactively on 1 January 2014, defines the objectives of the support granted by the Federal authorities, the instruments, and the criteria for allocating the compensatory measures. Although these are close to the European criteria, the new provisions will nevertheless not give Switzerland...

The Bundesgericht (Federal Court) has ordered a journalist at the Basler Zeitung to disclose to the public prosecutor’s office the name of a cannabis dealer profiled in one of her articles. In October 2012, the journalist had published a lengthy article entitled “Zu Besuch bei einem Dealer” (Visiting a dealer) in the printed and online versions of the Basler Zeitung. Another article headed “Schmuggelware aus Holland” (Smuggled goods from Holland) had appeared on the same page of the newspaper, dealing more generally with cannabis consumption in Switzerland and the political debate on the state-controlled...

According to media reports, on 25 November 2013, the Zürcher Obergericht (Zurich Appeal Court) imposed a fine, payable in 45 daily instalments, on a 23-year old man who had threatened to take revenge against his 290 Facebook friends because none of them had wished him a happy birthday. The Appeal Court ordered the Facebook user to pay 45 daily instalments of CHF 10 for attempting to cause fear and alarm among the general public. Under the relevant Article 258 of the Schweizerisches Strafgesetzbuch (Swiss Criminal Code - StGB), any person who causes fear and alarm among the general public by threatening...

Swiss public service broadcaster Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft (SRG) must broadcast television advertising spots that criticise SRG after the Bundesgericht (Federal Court) upheld a complaint by the Verein gegen Tierfabriken (VgT) that the broadcaster had refused to show such a spot. In 2011, SRG subsidiary publisuisse SA had only authorised the first version of a spot produced by the VgT. It lasted seven seconds and showed the organisation’s logo and Internet address, along with the text “www.VgT.ch - was andere Medien totschweigen” (“www.VgT.ch - hushed up by other media”), which...

On 17 December 2013, the European Court of Human Rights ruled by five votes to two, that Switzerland violated the right to freedom of expression by convicting Doğu Perinçek, chairman of the Turkish Workers’ Party, of publicly denying the existence of the genocide against the Armenian people. On several occasions, Perinçek had described the Armenian genocide as “an international lie”. The Swiss Courts found Perinçek guilty of racial discrimination within the meaning of Article 261bis of the Swiss Criminal Code. This Article punishes inter alia the denial, gross...