50 MORICE v. FRANCE JUDGMENT (iv) Conclusion as to the circumstances of the present case 174. The Court is of the view that the impugned remarks by the applicant did not constitute gravely damaging and essentially unfounded attacks on the action of the courts, but criticisms levelled at Judges M. and L.L. as part of a debate on a matter of public interest concerning the functioning of the justice system, and in the context of a case which had received wide media coverage from the outset. While those remarks could admittedly be regarded as harsh, they nevertheless constituted value judgments with a sufficient “factual basis”. (e) The sanctions imposed 175. As to the sentences imposed, the Court reiterates that, in assessing the proportionality of the interference, the nature and severity of the penalties imposed are also factors to be taken into account (see, for example, Sürek, cited above, § 64; Chauvy and Others v. France, no. 64915/01, § 78, ECHR 2004-VI; and Mor, cited above, § 61). In the present case, the Court of Appeal sentenced the applicant to pay a fine of EUR 4,000. This amount corresponds precisely to that fixed by the firstinstance court, where the judges had expressly taken into account the applicant’s status as a lawyer to justify their severity and to impose on him “a fine of a sufficiently high amount” (see paragraph 41 above). In addition to ordering the insertion of a notice in the newspaper Le Monde, the court ordered him to pay, jointly with the journalist and the publication director, EUR 7,500 in damages to each of the two judges, together with EUR 4,000 to Judge L.L. in costs. The Court notes, moreover, that the applicant alone was ordered to pay a sum to Judge M. in respect of costs, amounting to EUR 1,000. 176. The Court reiterates that even when the sanction is the lightest possible, such as a guilty verdict with a discharge in respect of the criminal sentence and an award of only a “token euro” in damages (see Mor, cited above, § 61), it nevertheless constitutes a criminal sanction and, in any event, that fact cannot suffice, in itself, to justify the interference with the applicant’s freedom of expression (see Brasilier, cited above, § 43). The Court has emphasised on many occasions that interference with freedom of expression may have a chilling effect on the exercise of that freedom (see, mutatis mutandis, Cumpănă and Mazăre v. Romania [GC], no. 33348/96, § 114, ECHR 2004-XI, and Mor, cited above) – a risk that the relatively moderate nature of a fine would not suffice to negate (see Dupuis and Others v. France, no. 1914/02, § 48, 7 June 2007). It should also be noted that imposing a sanction on a lawyer may have repercussions that are direct (disciplinary proceedings) or indirect (in terms, for example, of their image or the confidence placed in them by the public and their clients). The Court would, moreover, reiterate that the dominant position of the State institutions requires the authorities to show restraint in resorting to criminal