OTEGI MONDRAGON v. SPAIN JUDGMENT 1 In the case of Otegi Mondragon v. Spain, The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of: Josep Casadevall, President, Corneliu Bîrsan, Alvina Gyulumyan, Ján Šikuta, Luis López Guerra, Nona Tsotsoria, Mihai Poalelungi, judges, and Santiago Quesada, Section Registrar, Having deliberated in private on 8 March 2011, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: PROCEDURE 1. The case originated in an application (no. 2034/07) against the Kingdom of Spain lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Spanish national, Mr Arnaldo Otegi Mondragon (“the applicant”), on 5 January 2007. 2. The applicant was represented by Mr D. Rouget and Ms J. Goirizelaia Ordorika, lawyers practising in Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Bilbao respectively. The Spanish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr I. Blasco, Head of the Legal Department for Human Rights, Ministry of Justice. 3. The applicant alleged that the decision of the Supreme Court finding him guilty of serious insult against the King of Spain amounted to an unjustified infringement of his right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the Convention. 4. On 27 November 2008 the President of the Third Section decided to give notice of the application to the Government. It was also decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the application at the same time (Article 29 § 1 of the Convention). 5. On 7 June 2009 the applicant requested the Court to hold a public hearing. The Court examined the request. In view of the information available to it, it decided that no hearing was necessary.