Source: https://strasbourgobservers.com/2018/03/19/conviction-for-performance-art-protest-at-war-memorial-did-not-violate-article-10/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 08:03:59+00:00

Document:
The case concerns Anna Olegovna Sinkova, acting as a member of the artistic group St. Luke Brotherhood. In December 2010, Sinkova and three group members decided to protest “against wasteful use of natural gas by the State while turning a blind eye to poor living standards of veterans,” and staged an artistic performance at a war memorial in central Kyiv. The performance involved Sinkova frying eggs over the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A member of the group also filmed the performance. Two police officers had approached the group and remarked that their behaviour was “inappropriate,” but they made no further interference.
Sinkova subsequently made an application to the European Court, claiming her pre-trial detention had violated her right to liberty under Article 5, and her conviction had violated her right to freedom of expression. On Article 5, the Fourth Section unanimously found three separate violations concerning her pre-trial detention, including that the courts “had maintained her detention on grounds which cannot be regarded as sufficient,” and even finding her detention in June 2011 “was not covered by any judicial decision.” However, on Article 10, the Fourth Section, divided four votes to three, found that there had been no violation of Sinkova’s freedom of expression.
Finally, the majority examined the “nature and severity of the penalty,” and noted the conclusion in Murat Vural v. Turkey, that “peaceful and non-violent forms of expression in principle should not be made subject to the threat of a custodial sentence.” However, the majority observed that in contrast to Murat Vural, where the applicant was imprisoned for over 13 years, Sinkova was “given a suspended sentence and did not serve a single day of it.” The majority thus held there had been no violation of Article 10.
Notably, three judges dissented, including Judge Ganna Yudkivska, the judge elected in respect of Ukraine. The dissent found a violation of Article 10, including the domestic courts’ failure to address the “purpose of the applicant’s performance,” and the disregard of the performance’s satirical nature. The dissent also referred to the established principle in the Court’s case law that freedom of expression “is applicable not only to ‘information’ or ‘ideas’ that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population.” Further, the dissent noted an “inconsistency” in the majority’s position and the Court’s prior case law that a suspended prison sentence is “likely to have a chilling effect on satirical forms of expression.” Given “the lack of adequate assessment by the national authorities of the applicant’s performance from the standpoint of Article 10 of the Convention,” and the “complete disregard of its satirical nature,” in addition to the “disproportionate nature of the sentence,” the dissenting judges found that Article 10 was violated in the present case.
The second major point relates to the majority’s finding that it was acceptable under Article 10 that the “the domestic courts paid little attention to the applicant’s stated motives given their irrelevance for the legal classification of her actions.” However, it is highly questionable that such disregard for Sinkova’s intention is consistent with the Court’s case law. Indeed, on several occasions when finding a violation of Article 10, the Court explicitly took into consideration the intention of the applicant, rather than the mere fact of the criminal offence (see e.g. Thorgeir Thorgeirson v. Iceland, Jersild v. Denmark, Morice v. France and Perinçek v. Switzerland). Thus, in Tatár and Fáber the Court took into account that the political performance “was intended to send a message.” The Court was even more explicit in Murat Vural v. Turkey, holding that “in light of its case-law,” assessment “must be made” of the “purpose or the intention of the person performing the act or carrying out the conduct in question.” Similarly, and most recently, in Stern Taulats and Roura Capellera v. Spain, concerning a prosecution for burning in public a photograph of the Spanish king and queen, the Court took into account the protestor’s “intention” not to incite violence. The Court found in particular that the setting fire to a photograph of the royal couple during a demonstration had been part of a political critique of the institution of monarchy in general, and in particular of the Kingdom of Spain. It also noted that it was one of those provocative “events” which were increasingly being “staged” to attract media attention, and which went no further than the use of a certain permissible degree of provocation in order to transmit a critical message in the framework of freedom of expression.
Further, the majority’s framing of the issue that Sinkova broke “the criminal law,” leads in a problematic way to the justification of the interference with her freedom of expression rights under Article 10. In Tatár and Fáber, the Court reiterated that the performance’s “classification in national law has only relative value and constitutes no more than a starting-point.” It is indeed up to the government to “convincingly establish” the necessity for interfering with freedom of expression, and not simply point to a law, with the scrutiny ending there. The Court needs to assess the legitimate aim behind the prosecution, which in Sinkova was “protection of morals,” and more particularly, protecting against “insulting the memory of soldiers” and “feelings of veterans.” However, it is highly questionable that the aim of protecting the memory of soldiers from insult, and the feelings of veterans, outweighs Sinkova’s freedom of expression, given that it (a) was a “political and artistic performance,” subject to the highest protection of Article 10, (b) concerned a matter of public interest (“wasteful use of natural gas” and “poor living standards of veterans”), (c) did not involve violence, and (d) had no intention to insult or hurt. On this latter point, the Grand Chamber in Perinçek v. Switzerland, concerning insult to the memory of Armenians, held that the applicant “did not express contempt or hatred for the victims,” and did not “use abusive terms.” In other cases (Alekseyev v. Russia and Sergey Kuznetsov v. Russia) the Court found that any measures interfering with the freedom of assembly and expression “other than in cases of incitement to violence or rejection of democratic principles – however shocking and unacceptable certain views or words may appear to the authorities – do a disservice to democracy and often even endanger it”.
Notably, in Pekaslan the protestors were prosecuted, and “subsequently acquitted,” (para. 81) while in Yılmaz Yıldız the protestors only received “administrative fines” (para. 46). Moreover, in Akgöl and Göl v. Turkey, the Court found that a suspended 15-month prison sentence violated Article 10, as a peaceful demonstration should not, in principle, be made subject to the threat of a “penal sanction” (para. 43). Thus, on the basis of Pekaslan, Yılmaz Yıldız, and Akgöl and Göl, it is difficult to see how the suspended three-year prison sentence in Sinkova is consistent with Article 10. Finally, the majority seems to completely neglect the fact the Sinkova spent three month in pre-trial detention, and in Taranenko v. Russia, the Court, in considering a suspended three-year prison sentence, also took into account the “period of detention pending trial” in finding a violation of Article 10. The emphasis by the majority that Sinkova “did not serve a single day” of the suspended prison sentence, completely disregards the fact that she spent effectively three months in prison.
A case for the Grand Chamber?
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