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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has condemned Switzerland for violating freedom of expression. A journalist refused to reveal her sources after reading an article about a drug dealer.
The case, which was tried by European judges, began in 2012 with a report by a Basler Zeitung journalist about a hashish and cannabis trafficker. The Basel police wanted the journalist to speak to identify the trafficker.
When the latter refused to testify, the case finally reached federal court in 2014. The Lausanne judges decided in favor of the prosecutor and wanted to force the journalist to testify. The judges in Strasbourg concluded that Switzerland has violated article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which guarantees the right to freedom of expression.
A matter of weighting
The federal court had ruled that the journalist could not invoke the right to refuse to testify because trafficking in soft drugs was a criminal offense. It stated that the public interest in the prosecution of drug-related crimes should be weighed higher than the public interest in the protection of sources.
The Strasbourg court, however, sees it differently. The protection of sources is an important pillar for press freedom in a democratic society. The obligation of a journalist to reveal the identity of his source is in accordance with article 10 only if there is an overriding public interest in him.
The ECHR considered that this case had not been fulfilled. In the present case, it is not enough to classify the crime in one category or another to justify such interference.
Source protection must take priority
The journalists’ association Imprint and the Swiss section of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcome the EMGR’s judgment. They point out that protection of sources is an essential prerequisite for freedom of the press.
Whistleblowers, also from criminal circles, as well as whistleblower whistleblowers, could only trust journalists if they were guaranteed discretion and confidentiality of sources, Imprint writes in a statement. RSF Switzerland demands that the judicial authorities draw all the necessary conclusions from this judgment and that, in future, they clearly recognize the priority of the principle of source protection for journalists.
