Lingens v. Austria

Peter Lingens (plaintiff) was an Austrian journalist writing for the Vienna magazine Profil. In October 1975, Lingens wrote an article critical of Frederich Peter, a former Nazi, Austrian politician and leader of the Freedom Party. As part of the article, Lingens accused Bruno Kreisky, the Austrian chancellor, of protecting Peter and attempting to form a collation with the Freedom Party. Lingens wrote that Kreisky’s political efforts constituted opportunism, implying that Kreisky’s actions were for a specific purpose and without regard to moral implications. Kreisky brought two private prosecutions against Lingens, arguing that Lingens’s writings were defamatory and violated Austria’s criminal prohibitions against accusing another of possessing a contemptible character or of behavior contrary to morality. The punishment for a criminal violation of defamation included imprisonment or a fine. The regional court found Lingens guilty of defamation. Lingens was ordered to pay a fine, and the defamatory publications were confiscated. Both Lingens and Kreisky appealed. The court of appeal set aside the lower-court judgment, explaining that the lower court had not sufficiently considered whether Kreisky, as an elected official and party leader, was entitled to bring a private prosecution. On remand, the regional court determined that Kreisky did have the authority to bring a private prosecution and upheld its original judgment against Lingens. Kreisky and Lingens again appealed. The appeals court lowered the fine imposed on Lingens but otherwise upheld the regional court’s judgment. Lingens applied to the European Commission of Human Rights (the commission), arguing that Austria (defendant) and its criminal defamation law violated his right to free expression by Article 10 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the convention). The commission forwarded Lingens’s application to the European Court of Human Rights.