MATÚZ v. HUNGARY JUDGMENT
11
editor-in-chief’s letter to the board had prompted any response (see
paragraphs 7 and 8 above). Thus, the Court is satisfied that the publication
of the book took place only after the applicant had felt prevented from
remedying the perceived interference with his journalistic work within the
television company itself – that is, for want of any effective alternative
channel.
48. The Court also notes that a rather severe sanction was imposed on
the applicant, namely the termination of his employment with immediate
effect.
49. Finally, as to the manner in which the applicant’s labour case was
reviewed, the domestic courts found that the mere fact that the applicant had
published the book was sufficient to conclude that he had acted to his
employer’s detriment. However, they paid no heed to the applicant’s
argument that he had been exercising his freedom of expression in the
public interest, and limited their analysis to finding that he had breached his
contractual obligations. Moreover, the Supreme Court’s judgment explicitly
stated that the subject matter of the case was limited to an employment
dispute and did not concern the applicant’s fundamental rights (see
paragraph 16 above). As a result, they did not examine whether and how the
subject matter of the applicant’s book and the context of its publication
could have affected the permissible scope of restriction on his freedom of
expression, although it is such an approach that, in principle, would have
been compatible with the Convention standards (see Sokołowski v. Poland,
no. 75955/01, § 47, 29 March 2005; and Ungváry and Irodalom Kft. v.
Hungary, no. 64520/10, § 57, 3 December 2013).
50. Being mindful of the importance of the right to freedom of
expression on matters of general interest, of the applicant’s professional
obligations and responsibilities as a journalist on the one hand, and of the
duties and responsibilities of employees towards their employers on the
other, and having weighed the different interests involved in the case, the
Court concludes that the interference with the applicant’s right to freedom
of expression was not “necessary in a democratic society”.
51. Accordingly, there has been a violation of Article 10 of the
Convention.
II. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
52. Article 41 of the Convention provides:
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