FRESSOZ AND ROIRE v. FRANCE JUDGMENT 19 Furthermore, disclosing the remuneration of just one person, albeit the head of a major private company, did not contribute to the debate on a topic of interest to the public. The published information concerned a particular situation that was too specific to be a matter of public interest. It had been published solely with a view to damaging Mr Calvet and putting him in a difficult position in the pay negotiations that were under way. French law made it possible for citizens to obtain information concerning the income and the tax liabilities of taxpayers in France. Thus under Article L. 111 of the Code of Tax Procedure (see paragraph 26 above) taxpayers in a municipality were entitled to consult a list of the people liable for tax and to find out those people's taxable income and tax liability. In any event, there could not have been a disproportionate interference with freedom of expression as an alternative solution had been available that would have allowed any right the public had to information to be upheld, without the commission of a criminal offence. The applicants would not have been guilty of the offence of handling photocopies if they had confined themselves to publishing the information about Mr Calvet's income, without reproducing extracts from the photocopies of the tax assessments that had been sent to them by a person who was rightfully subject to professional confidentiality obligations. Admittedly, proceedings could have been brought against them for press libel. However, the case-law of the Court of Cassation established that journalists were entitled to adduce evidence justifying their assertions, even if obtained unlawfully. Subject to that condition, the applicants could have disclosed the information without restriction. 49. In the light of those arguments, the Court must examine whether relevant and sufficient reasons existed to justify the applicants' conviction for the purposes of paragraph 2 of Article 10. 50. The Court is unconvinced by the Government's argument that the information was not a matter of general interest. The article was published during an industrial dispute – widely reported in the press – at one of the major French car manufacturers. The workers were seeking a pay rise which the management were refusing. The article showed that the company chairman had received large pay increases during the period under consideration while at the same time opposing his employees' claims for a rise. By making such a comparison against that background, the article contributed to a public debate on a matter of general interest. It was not intended to damage Mr Calvet's reputation but to contribute to the more