5.  The applicant was born in 1964 and lives in Thessaloniki. He is a taxi driver by profession.
6.  In December 2007 the applicant published an article in a local newspaper, Chortiatis 570. The article’s title was “The ludicrousness of power” and stated, inter alia, the following:
“It is known to more or less all of us how some people, fellow citizens or neighbours, especially the latter, act when they think that interests of any kind which they have had ‘since the beginning of time’ are affected ... when these same people get involved in politics and take up a little post, owing to there being a lack of other interested people who are all too often more capable. Because those people will serve petty political – but mostly their own personal – interests much more readily in order to impose themselves more easily than others, others whose vote they wormed out by making many promises ... Those are the totally (un)worthy, squeaky clean people in proper clothes every Sunday ... Those who, when placed in paid positions in charge of local executive bodies, and especially in the local municipality of Filyro, are the same people who consider that their land has suddenly become bigger, and claim a little of the public space between their land and the street. In this space, which they consider to belong to their yard, they plant trees, as if they suddenly have a mania for saving the environment ... they construct their buildings (in our case, a gazebo with a tiled roof) a little further from the limits of their land, saying with impudence that it is not they who are to blame for this, but ‘the bad Albanian’ to whom they assigned [the building work]. So, in order to hinder any ‘reckless’ neighbours or other visitors who [have] the audacity to park their cars in the area between the limits of their land and the street, that is to say in the remaining public space, they put TREES-OBSTACLES. Because they care about any accidents that may happen – not, of course, owing to someone’s choosing to walk or park his or her car there, but owing to the fact that the height of this construction, which accidently (as they claim) juts out of their land, is such that any unsuspecting person runs the risk of getting head injuries when he or she steps out of his or her car ... As they are bailiffs, like spies, they also find out the names of the people who come into the PAVLIDIS area in PHILYRO in order to work, from the number plates of the cars. [These people] find themselves faced with criminal complaints, because they dare to park where all the others park ...”
7.  The head of the local council, E.P., filed a criminal complaint against the applicant for slanderous defamation via the press.
8.  On 24 September 2008 the three-member first-instance criminal court of Thessaloniki (Τριμελές Πλημμελειοδικείο) held a hearing in the case. The applicant argued that, under Article 367 of the Criminal Code, his act had not been wrongful, as what he had written in the published text was true. Furthermore, relying on Article 367 § 1 of the Criminal Code, he argued that he had written this with a legitimate interest in the case, which was his belief that E.P. had used her position as an elected member of the local council in order to plant trees and construct a pavement in front of her house without permission. The court held that the complainant could be identified from the content of the article, and found the applicant guilty of slanderous defamation via the press. It sentenced him to a six-month suspended prison sentence (decision no. 6484/2008). The applicant appealed against that decision.
9.  On 28 May 2009 the three-member Thessaloniki Court of Appeal (Τριμελές Εφετείο – hereinafter “the Court of Appeal”) changed the charges from slanderous defamation to insult (εξύβριση), and found the applicant guilty of insult via the press. It sentenced him to a four-month suspended prison sentence (decision no. 2830/2009). The applicant appealed on points of law on grounds including, inter alia, a lack of sufficient reasoning as to the rejection of his argument under Article 367 of the Criminal Code, which he had repeated in the Court of Appeal.
10.  On 5 May 2010 the Court of Cassation (Άρειος Πάγος) quashed the judgment which had been appealed against, on the grounds of a lack of reasoning, and remitted the case to the Court of Appeal (decision no. 905/2010).
11.  On 13 July 2010 the Court of Appeal held a new hearing in the case. The applicant argued again that his act had not been wrongful, as what he had written in the published article was true, and he had written with a legitimate interest in the matter. The Appeal Court rejected the applicant’s argument and held the following:
“... Considering the above-mentioned content of the article and the then ongoing dispute between the parties and especially their personal confrontation at the City Council, it is at the outset clear and without a doubt that the references (facts and characterisations) solely and exclusively concern the complainant. Furthermore, from the impugned article it is apparent that in it the following facts are included: that the complainant 1) had built a gazebo with a tiled roof on her land and that a part of the roof jutted out onto the street; 2) had built a pavement and had planted trees in a public space; 3) threatened to sue persons (who were proven to be the drivers of the defendant) who dared to park in a place where other residents also parked their cars. It is also apparent that these facts are accompanied by adverse judgments against her and that those facts are connected to her in her capacity as head of the local council, that is to say that her above-mentioned actions had taken place arbitrarily and in abuse of her position at Chortiatis Municipality. It was proved that the above-mentioned facts which the defendant disseminated to others via the local press were true, as the complainant admitted ... It was also proved that a) the above-mentioned facts that the defendant disseminated in the above-mentioned way could harm, seen objectively, the honour and reputation of the complainant, also in view of her aforementioned capacity in conjunction with the fact that the dissemination took place via the local press and became known to an indefinite number of people; b) the defendant knew that the disseminated facts were capable of harming the honour or reputation of the complainant, and c) the defendant wanted to make such a dissemination harming her honour and reputation. It follows that, in the present case, the above-mentioned elements objectively and subjectively constitute the criminal act of simple defamation (Article 362 of the Criminal Code) which, however, goes without punishment, under Article 366 § 1 (a) of the Criminal Code. Nevertheless, taking into account the way the above-mentioned defamation was expressed, and in the circumstances which were previously detailed, the court concludes that there was an intention to insult, and for this reason the defendant must be punished for this act. In particular, the court bases its conclusion on the fact that the applicant presented the above-mentioned true facts along with unacceptable value judgments and references to the complainant’s public post, such as, ‘Because those people will serve petty political – but mostly their own personal – interests much more readily in order to impose themselves more easily than others, others whose vote they wormed out by making many promises’, and unfamiliar characterisations such as, ‘Those are the totally (un)worthy, squeaky clean people in proper clothes every Sunday’, or, ‘As they are bailiffs, like spies, they also find out the names of the people from the number plates of the cars’. Lastly, the defendant’s separate argument that he committed this act with a legitimate interest must be dismissed as unfounded, as the above-mentioned expressions included in the article ‘The ludicrousness of power’, which the defendant published in the newspaper Chortiatis 570, indicate that he intended to insult the complainant. These phrases were not necessary in this case for the expression of the defendant’s desire to protect the legitimate interest upon which he relied, and he could have used other phrases such as: ‘they try to serve their [own] personal interests’ instead of, ‘Because those people will serve petty political – but mostly their own personal – interests much more readily in order to impose themselves more easily than others, others whose vote they wormed out by making many promises’; or the phrase, ‘the elected public persons’ instead of, ‘Those are the totally (un)worthy, squeaky clean people in proper clothes every Sunday’; as well as the expression, ‘as bailiffs, they know how to find other people’s data’, instead of, ‘As they are bailiffs, like spies, they also find out the names of the people from the number plates of the cars’ ...”
12.  Based on the above, the Court of Appeal found the applicant guilty of insult via the press and sentenced him to a two-month suspended prison sentence (judgment no. 2712/2010). The applicant appealed on points of law.
13.  On 23 February 2011 the Court of Cassation dismissed the applicant’s appeal on points of law (decision no. 351/2011). The court held that the judgment of the Court of Appeal had included sufficient reasoning. In addition, it had been correct to dismiss the applicant’s argument that he had acted with a legitimate interest as it had held that the applicant had intended to insult E.P and that he had used expressions which had not been necessary for defending his alleged legitimate interest, adding at the same time which expressions could have been used instead. The decision was finalised (καθαρογραφή) on 24 March 2011.
14.  In addition, in 2008 E.P. lodged a civil action for damages against the applicant. The Thessaloniki multi-member First-Instance Court by its judgment no. 697/2011 ordered the applicant to pay 5,000 euros (EUR) to E.P. Following the applicant’s appeal, the Thessaloniki Court of Appeal ordered the applicant to pay EUR 2,500 (judgment no. 119/2014). The judgment became final and the applicant paid to E.P. EUR 2,500 and EUR 1,913.77 in interest.