EIT: Asianajajalle tuomittu sakko syyttäjän asiantuntijan mustamaalaamisesta oli oikeutettu

Euroopan ihmisoikeustuomioistuin on hiljattain antanut Saksaa koskevan tuomion, jossa arvioitiin asianajajan sananvapauden laajuutta oikeudenkäynnissä. Asianajajan sananvapautta ei katsottu loukatun, kun hänelle oli määrätty rikosoikeudellisena seurauksena sakko mm. asiantuntijan kunnianloukkauksesta. Valitus jätettiin ilmeisen perusteettomana tutkimatta.

EIT:n lehdistötiedotteesta:

In its decision in the case of Fuchs v. Germany (application nos. 29222/11 and 64345/11) the European Court of Human Rights has unanimously declared the application inadmissible. The decision is final.

The case concerned the complaint by a lawyer – relying in particular on Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights – of criminal and disciplinary sanctions imposed on him for, among other things, defamatory statements against an expert for the prosecution, which the lawyer had made while representing a client.

The Court held that the German courts had given relevant and sufficient reasons for their decisions. In particular, the defence of his client’s interests had not allowed the lawyer to imply that the expert would falsify evidence. The lawyer’s statements had not contained any objective criticism of the expert’s work in his client’s case, but the statements had been aimed at generally deprecating his work and declaring his findings to be unusable. The Court found that sworn-in experts had to be able to perform their duties in conditions free of undue perturbation if they were to be successful in performing their tasks.

Koko lehdistötiedote, missä myös linkki koko tuomioon, löytyy täältä: here