INDEX.HU ZRT v. HUNGARY JUDGMENT
In the case of Index.hu Zrt v. Hungary,
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Chamber
composed of:
Marko Bošnjak, President,
Alena Poláčková,
Krzysztof Wojtyczek,
Péter Paczolay,
Ivana Jelić,
Erik Wennerström,
Raffaele Sabato, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to:
the application (no. 77940/17) against Hungary lodged with the Court
under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by Index.hu Zrt. (“the applicant
company”) on 27 October 2017;
the decision to give notice to the Hungarian Government (“the
Government”) of the application;
the parties’ observations;
Having deliberated in private on 11 July 2023,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
INTRODUCTION
1. The case concerns a decision by the domestic courts ordering the
applicant company to pay compensation for having published a story
recounted by a third person, which the courts found to have been false and
defamatory. The applicant company complained that the article in question
concerned a public figure and a matter of public interest and that the order to
pay compensation had violated its right to freedom of expression, contrary to
Article 10 of the Convention.
THE FACTS
2. Index.hu Informatikai Zrt.is a private company limited by shares which
has its headquarters in Budapest. It is the owner of a major Internet news
portal in Hungary, index.hu (“Index”).
3. The Government were represented by their Agent, Mr Z. Tallódi, of the
Ministry of Justice.
4. The facts of the case may be summarised as follows.
5. In November 2014 a series of anti-government demonstrations took
place in Hungary. Subsequently, in the applicant company’s submission, one
of the main television news channels ran reports on various past infractions
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