10
ANNEN v. GERMANY - JUDGMENT
43. Regarding the webpage, the applicant further stated that he was no
longer able to submit the exact content of the disputed webpage at the time
relevant for the civil injunction. Nevertheless, he presented screenshots of
similar sites offering a general overview of the webpage’s former content
and layout. He contested the screenshots presented by the Government,
arguing that they had been taken from other webpages not relevant for the
present application. The applicant also emphasised that the domestic courts
had failed to take into account the context and the layout of the webpage
listing the doctors’ names and the day clinic’s address. He specified that the
doctors’ names were not mentioned on the first page of his website, but only
under the link “death or life”/“request for prayers for Germany”
(Gebetsanliegen für Deutschland), asking visitors to the page to pray for
those who performed, assisted with or supported abortions. The information
affecting the two doctors had been organised in an alphabetical list ranking
the cities concerned.
(b) The Government
44. The Government submitted that the interference with the applicant’s
right to freedom of expression had been justified as the domestic courts had
given precedence to the doctors’ personality rights after having properly
classified, assessed and weighed the conflicting positions.
45. The Government further claimed that an average citizen, when
confronted with the applicant’s statements in the leaflet, would have come
to the conclusion that abortions had been performed contrary to the relevant
laws and that the doctors had, therefore, committed criminal offences.
Although the applicant had corrected this impression, the clarification had
not been sufficient. The Government pointed out that the layout of the
leaflet had been intended to disguise the clarification which had been set in
smaller letters and to focus the reader’s attention on the statement that
��unlawful abortions” had been performed.
46. Furthermore, the Government argued that the complete prohibition
on publishing the doctors’ names and the day clinic’s address on the
webpage was proportionate and necessary in a democratic society. They
stated that the applicant had not been prohibited from expressing his critical
opinion of abortion in general. Moreover, while admitting that no
screenshots of the applicant’s webpage had been included in the courts’ case
files, the Government presented screenshots of several current webpages
also created by the applicant which they claimed to be similar to the one that
he had set up at the relevant time. They emphasised that the website’s layout
had included a left-hand frame showing the pulse of a baby’s heart, blood
dripping down and other explicit images. Dramatically worded statements
comparing abortions to the Holocaust had been displayed prominently on
the webpage. According to the applicant’s statement in the domestic