FIRST SECTION
CASE OF LYPARIS v. GREECE
(Application no. 6047/14)
 
 
 
 
 
 
JUDGMENT
 
STRASBOURG
10 November 2022
 
 
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Lyparis v. Greece,
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
 Krzysztof Wojtyczek, President,
 Erik Wennerström,
 Ioannis Ktistakis, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to:
the application (no. 6047/14) against the Hellenic Republic lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on 31 December 2013 by a Greek national, Mr Antonios Lyparis (“the applicant”), born in 1946 and living in Chios, who was represented by Ms E. Parikaki, a lawyer practising in Chios;
the decision to give notice of the complaint under Article 10 of the Convention to the Greek Government (“the Government”), represented by their Agent’s delegate, Ms Z. Chatzipavlou, Senior Adviser at the State Legal Council, and to declare the remainder of the application inadmissible;
the parties’ observations;
Having deliberated in private on 4 October 2022,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
1. The applicant, a politician, was found liable in civil defamation proceedings for an article he had published in the local press in which he criticised I.G., who at the time of the article was an elected prefect, for acts and omissions of the political party he was leading. 2. On 24 March 2005 the applicant published an open letter in a local newspaper addressed to I.G. in his capacity as leader of the political party P. and dealing with alleged acts and omissions of the past years, after I.G. had referred to the applicant as a “bad adviser” to the prefect. In particular, the applicant referred to several projects that, in his view, had been left incomplete or had defects. He included phrases such as “the Greek people (through your doing) spent more than 200,000,000 drachmas on the port at Psara, half of which you donated(!) (to use a very mild expression)”, “... but the only thing you were concerned about then was how to satisfy the whims of the high-flying doctor next door («τα βίτσια του γείτονα μεγαλογιατρού»)”, “if even one of these things had happened to me I would have been embarrassed to move around in Chios”. The applicant concluded his open letter stating that “it is obvious that you were not personally responsible for everything, but I am addressing you in your capacity as leader of the P. party and because you said things about me publicly without any reason”. 3. In December 2005, I.G. lodged an action against the applicant, seeking compensation for the non-pecuniary damage he had allegedly suffered as a result of the applicant’s letter. In judgment no. 105/2011 of 4 May 2011, the Aegean Court of Appeal held that the facts mentioned by the applicant had been true and concerned work carried out during the four years when I.G. had been a member of the council of the prefecture although he had only been prefect for a year. In addition, many of the comments related to financial misconduct without there being any proof that I.G. had been involved. The expressions used had not been objectively necessary or appropriate for the exercise of the applicant’s right, as a politician, to criticise I.G., also a politician, or to reply to the comment that he had been a “bad adviser” to the prefect. It followed that the applicant had intentionally insulted I.G. and he was accordingly ordered to pay I.G. 10,000 euros (EUR) for the non‑pecuniary damage he had suffered. In decision no. 1476/2013 of 8 July 2013, the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of the appellate court. 4. The applicant complained to the Court that the civil proceedings for defamation in which he had been ordered to pay EUR 10,000 to I.G. because of the article he had published in the local press had violated his right to freedom of expression.

Outcome for Article 10: violation