ANNEN v. GERMANY – JUDGMENT
13
(iii) The Court’s task, in exercising its supervisory jurisdiction, is not to take the
place of the competent national authorities but rather to review under Article 10 the
decisions they delivered pursuant to their power of appreciation. This does not mean
that the supervision is limited to ascertaining whether the respondent State exercised
its discretion reasonably, carefully and in good faith; what the Court has to do is to
look at the interference complained of in the light of the case as a whole and
determine whether it was ‘proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued’ and whether
the reasons adduced by the national authorities to justify it are ‘relevant and
sufficient’... In doing so, the Court has to satisfy itself that the national authorities
applied standards which were in conformity with the principles embodied in
Article 10 and, moreover, that they relied on an acceptable assessment of the relevant
facts ...”
53. Another principle that has consistently emphasised in the Court’s
case-law is that there is little scope under Article 10 of the Convention for
restrictions on political expressions or on debate on questions of public
interest (see, among other authorities, Wingrove v. the United Kingdom,
25 November 1996, § 58, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996-V;
Ceylan v. Turkey [GC], no. 23556/94, § 34, ECHR 1999-IV; and
Animal Defenders International v. the United Kingdom [GC], no. 48876/08,
§ 102, ECHR 2013 (extracts)).
54. The Court further reiterates that the right to protection of reputation
is protected by Article 8 of the Convention as part of the right to respect for
private life (see Chauvy and Others v. France, no. 64915/01, § 70,
ECHR 2004-VI; Pfeifer v. Austria, no. 12556/03, § 35, 15 November 2007;
and Polanco Torres and Movilla Polanco v. Spain, no. 34147/06, § 40,
21 September 2010). In order for Article 8 to come into play, however, an
attack on a person’s reputation must attain a certain level of seriousness and
be made in a manner causing prejudice to personal enjoyment of the right to
respect for private life (see A. v. Norway, no. 28070/06, § 64, 9 April 2009;
Axel Springer AG v. Germany [GC], no. 39954/08, § 83, 7 February 2012
and Delfi AS, cited above, § 137).
55. When examining whether there is a need for an interference with
freedom of expression in a democratic society in the interests of the
“protection of the reputation or rights of others”, the Court may be required
to ascertain whether the domestic authorities have struck a fair balance
when protecting two values guaranteed by the Convention which may come
into conflict with each other in certain cases, namely on the one hand
freedom of expression protected by Article 10, and on the other the right to
respect for private life enshrined in Article 8 (see Hachette Filipacchi
Associés v. France, no. 71111/01, § 43, 14 June 2007; MGN Limited v. the
United Kingdom, no. 39401/04, § 142, 18 January 2011; Axel Springer AG,
cited above, § 84 and Delfi AS, cited above, § 138).
56. In cases such as the present one the Court considers that the outcome
of the application should not, in principle, vary according to whether it has
been lodged with the Court under Article 10 of the Convention by the
person who has made the statement in dispute or under Article 8 of the
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