Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 94
February 2007
Pavel Ivanov v. Russia (dec.) - 35222/04
Decision 20.2.2007 [Section I]
Article 17
Destruction of rights and freedoms
Conviction for publications inciting hatred towards the Jewish people: inadmissible
Article 10
Article 10-1
Freedom of expression
Conviction for publications inciting hatred towards the Jewish people: inadmissible
The applicant, owner and editor of anewspaper, was convicted of public incitement to ethnic, racial and religious hatred through the use of mass-media. He authored and published a series of articles portraying the Jews as the source of evil in Russia, calling for their exclusion from social life. He accused an entire ethnic group of plotting a conspiracy against the Russian people and ascribed Fascist ideology to the Jewish leadership. Both in his publications, and in his oral submissions at the trial, he consistently denied the Jews the right to national dignity, claiming that they did not form a nation.
Inadmissible: The Court had no doubt as to the markedly anti-Semitic tenor of the applicant’s views. It agreed with the assessment made by the domestic courts that through his publications he had sought to incite hatred towards the Jewish people. Such a general, vehement attack on one ethnic group is directed against the Convention’s underlying values, notably tolerance, social peace and non-discrimination. Consequently, by reason of Article 17 of the Convention, the applicant could not benefit from the protection afforded by Article 10: incompatible ratione materiae.
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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