ORLOVSKAYA ISKRA v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 5 13. The official of the Electoral Committee compiled an administrative offence record against the applicant organisation, referring to the legislative provisions defining “campaigning” (see paragraph 40 below): “[The applicant organisation] has committed an administrative offence: publications on 7 and 14 November 2007 containing elements of election campaigning as defined in sections 10 and 55 § 1(6) of the State Duma Deputies Elections Act” ... Liability for this offence is prescribed under: Article 5.5 § 1 of the CAO.” 14. The case was then submitted to a justice of the peace. On 29 November 2007 the justice of the peace examined the case. At the hearing the editor-in-chief of the newspaper explained that both articles were informational in essence and were not a part of the election campaign. They reflected the author’s opinion of Governor Stroyev. Consequently, there was no need for those articles to be paid for from any candidate’s campaign fund. 15. The judge held that, according to the State Duma Deputies Elections Act of 2005, taken in conjunction with the Electoral Rights Act, “election campaigning” meant publications where information about one of the candidates prevailed and was combined with negative comment about him or her. Having studied the impugned articles the judge agreed with the Electoral Committee that they primarily concerned candidate Stroyev, and secondly were negative. The judge concluded that those articles were in substance election “campaigning”. Such material should either have been paid for from the campaign fund of one of the candidates or have been published free of charge; in any event, the newspaper had been required to indicate who had sponsored the publication. No such mention had been made in the articles. Consequently, the publication of both articles amounted to a breach of the electoral law. The applicant organisation was therefore found guilty of the administrative offence described in Article 5.5 § 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences of 2001 (hereinafter “the CAO”). The justice of the peace ordered the applicant organisation to pay a fine of 35,000 roubles (RUB, equivalent to 1,000 euros (EUR) at the time). 16. The applicant organisation appealed to the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Orel. On 27 December 2007 it heard the applicant organisation’s representatives and rejected the appeal. The relevant extract from the judgment reads as follows: “Having regard to the fact that the publication of the above articles took place during an election campaign period, the judge considers that the above-mentioned articles contained elements of election campaigning, and therefore could be described as campaign literature. This conclusion is supported by the words of the representatives of the newspaper ... who acknowledged that the articles contained criticism of Governor Stroyev ...” 17. The appeal decision entered into legal force on the same date.