Communicated on 3 October 2019

FOURTH SECTION

Application no. 22953/16 Adina-Isabella STANCU and others against Romania lodged on 21 April 2016

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the sentence imposed on the applicants - two newspaper editors and the company they were working for - following the final judgment of the Bucharest Court of Appeal of 17 June 2015 (available to the applicants on 23 October 2015) for a press article approved by them and published in an online newspaper on 2 August 2012. The article concerned the vice-president of the Superior Council of Magistrates and a judicial error allegedly made by her when she had worked as a superior prosecutor attached to the Bac ă u Prosecutor ’ s Office, namely her endorsement of the indictment for murder of a student who was acquitted afterwards by the domestic courts. The applicants argued that the sentence imposed on them to pay civil damages aimed at intimidating them, was not justified by a pressing social need and breached their right to freedom of expression.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Has there been a violation of the applicants ’ right to freedom of expression contrary to Article 10 of the Convention (see Axel Springer AG v. Germany [GC], no. 39954/08, 7 February 2012)?

APPENDIX

No.

Applicant ’ s Name

Birth date

Nationality

Place of residence

1Adina-Isabella STANCU

10/03/1964

Romanian

Bucharest

2Ovidiu Răzvan SAVALIUC

13/10/1967

Romanian

Bucharest

3SOCIETATEA JURINDEX MEDIA S.R.L.

Created on 16/06/2010

Romanian

Bucharest