ORLOVSKAYA ISKRA v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT
1
In the case of Orlovskaya Iskra v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a
Chamber composed of:
Luis López Guerra, President,
Helena Jäderblom,
Helen Keller,
Dmitry Dedov,
Branko Lubarda,
Pere Pastor Vilanova,
Alena Poláčková, judges,
and Stephen Phillips, Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 31 January 2017,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in an application (no. 42911/08) against the
Russian Federation lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
(“the Convention”) by Redaktsiya Gazety Orlovskaya Iskra (hereinafter
“Orlovskaya Iskra” or “the applicant organisation”), on 24 July 2008.
2. The applicant organisation was represented by Mr D. Krayukhin. The
Russian Government (“the Government”) were represented by
Mr G. Matyushkin, Representative of the Russian Federation to the
European Court of Human Rights.
3. The applicant organisation complained under Article 10 of the
Convention about the classification of the articles it published as “election
campaigning” material and about the fine imposed in the administrative
offence case.
4. On 6 April 2011 the application was communicated to the
Government.
THE FACTS
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE
5. The applicant is a non-governmental organisation that publishes
Orlovskaya Iskra, a newspaper in the Orel Region. As of March 2003, the
Orel branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Orel
branch of the People’s Patriotic Union of Russia, a nationwide movement,