Birmingham and Coventry National Union of Journalists

Interim ban on TV programme was in breach of Belgian broadcaster’s freedom of expression

In today’s (29/03/11) Chamber judgment in the case RTBF v. Belgium (application no. 50084/06), which is not final, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

A violation of Articles 6 § 1 (access to court) and Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerned an interim injunction ordered by an urgent-applications judge against the Belgian French-language broadcasting corporation RTBF, preventing the broadcasting of a programme – partly about the rights of patients vis-à-vis doctors –, until the final decision in a dispute between a doctor named in the programme and the RTBF.

You can access the full summary here . . . .
When the page loads, go to 'Recent press releases', left hand column