Communicated on 20 February 2018

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 1176/15 Aleksey Anatolyevich NAVALNYY against Russia lodged on 10 November 2014

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the right to freedom of expression. The applicant was found liable in civil defamation proceedings after he had exposed the fake news disseminated during his election campaign and described the person who had been at their origin as a “con man” ( аферист ). The amount of award was further increased on appeal (final judgment: Moscow City Court, 14 May 2014).

QUESTIONS tO THE PARTIES

As regards the finding of the applicant ’ s liability in the defamation proceedings, was there a violation of Article 10 of the Convention? In particular, did the domestic courts consider the context in which the impugned statements had been made? Did they give relevant and sufficient reasons for the five-fold increase of the award on appeal?