Click here [3] for Judgment (approximately 25 pages); click here [4] for press release (approximately 3 pages)

A Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Delfi AS v. Estonia on October 10, 2013, that holding an Estonian Internet news portal liable for offensive comments posted by a reader did not violate the right to freedom of expression pursuant to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.  According to the press release, the Court held that the finding of liability was “a justified and proportionate restriction on the portal’s right to freedom of expression” given that “the comments were highly offensive; the portal failed to prevent them from becoming public, profited from their existence, but allowed their authors to remain anonymous; and, the fine imposed by the Estonian courts was not excessive.”  The Chamber judgment is not final.