Communicated on 8 March 2017

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 48741/11 Yevgeniy Anatolyevich BYCHKOV against Russia lodged on 20 July 2011

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The applicant is one of many students who wrote to the president of the university to complain about unacceptable behaviour of one of the professors. Their collective complaint was never investigated but the Russian courts granted the professor ’ s defamation action against the students.

QUESTIONS tO THE PARTIES

Was there an interference with the applicant ’ s right to freedom of expression as a result of the defamation proceedings brought against him? If so, did it comply with the requirements of the second paragraph of Articl e 10 of the Convention (see Zakharov v. Russia , no. 14881/03, 5 October 2006; Kazakov v. Russia , no. 1758/02, 18 December 2008; and Bezymyannyy v. Russia , no. 10941/03, 8 April 2010)?