20 SAVVA TERENTYEV v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT the case at hand in the light of those principles, with a particular regard to the nature and wording of the impugned statements, the context in which they were published, their potential to lead to harmful consequences and the reasons adduced by the Russian courts to justify the interference in question. (ii) Application of the above principles in the present case 67. In the present case, the applicant was prosecuted in criminal proceedings and given a suspended prison sentence for statements which, as the domestic courts found, incited hatred and enmity against police officers as a “social group” and called for their “physical extermination” (see paragraphs 21, 22 and 24 above). The domestic courts found, in particular, that the impugned statements, “generalised, impersonal [and] insulting”, were “imbued with hostility, hatred and humiliation of dignity” of police officers, arguing that they were inferior and ascribing to them humiliating characteristics (see paragraphs 22-23 above). The Court observes in that connection, that the text in question is, indeed, framed in very strong words. In particular, its first part refers to police officers as “cops” and largely uses vulgar, derogatory and vituperative terms, labelling them all as “lowbrows and hoodlums” as well as “the dumbest and least educated representatives of the animal world”. The second part of the text expresses a wish to see a ceremony of annihilation of “infidel cops” by fire in ovens “like [those] at Auschwitz”, with a view to “cleansing society of [the] cop-hoodlum filth” (see paragraph 13 above). 68. The Court reiterates that offensive language may fall outside the protection of freedom of expression if it amounts to wanton denigration; but the use of vulgar phrases in itself is not decisive in the assessment of an offensive expression as it may well serve merely stylistic purposes. For the Court, style constitutes part of the communication as the form of expression and is as such protected together with the substance of the ideas and information expressed (see Gül and Others v. Turkey, no. 4870/02, § 41, 8 June 2010, and Grebneva and Alisimchik v. Russia, no. 8918/05, § 52, 22 November 2016, and the authorities cited therein). 69. The applicant was convicted for speech which, as the domestic courts adjudged, incited hatred and violence rather than being merely insulting (compare and contrast Janowski v. Poland [GC], no. 25716/94, § 32, ECHR 1999-I) or defamatory (compare and contrast Bartnik v. Poland (dec.), no. 53628/10, § 28, 11 March 2014) in respect of police officers. The Court stresses that not every remark which may be perceived as offensive or insulting by particular individuals or their groups justifies a criminal conviction in the form of imprisonment. Whilst such sentiments are understandable, they alone cannot set the limits of freedom of expression. It is only by a careful examination of the context in which the offending, insulting or aggressive words appear that one can draw a meaningful