MORICE v. FRANCE JUDGMENT 7 video-recording made in Djibouti in March 2000 and cited by Judges M. and L.L. in their decision of 17 March 2000, Judge P. replied that it was not in the judicial investigation file and was not registered as an exhibit; on the same day, Judge P. asked Judge M. whether she still had the video-cassette; Judge M. promptly gave him a closed and undated envelope with her name on, showing no sign of having been placed under seal, bearing the address of Judge M. as addressee and that of the public prosecutor of Djibouti as sender; the envelope contained a video-cassette and a handwritten card with the letter head of the public prosecutor of Djibouti, these items then being taken by Judge P. and placed under seal. The public prosecutor’s card addressed to Judge M. read as follows (translated from French). “Hi Marie-Paule, As agreed, I am sending you the video-cassette of the Goubet site visit. I hope the picture will be clear enough. I watched the show Sans aucun doute [Without any doubt] on TF1. I noticed once again how Mrs Borrel and her lawyers were determined to carry on orchestrating their manipulation. I’ll call you soon. Say hello to Roger if he’s back, and also to J.C. [D.]. Speak to you soon. Best wishes, DJAMA.” 33. On 6 September 2000 the applicant and another lawyer, Mr L. de Caunes, wrote a letter to the Minister of Justice to complain of the facts recorded in the report of the investigating judge P. dated 1 August 2000, on account of the “conduct of Judges [M.] and [L.L.], [which was] completely at odds with the principles of impartiality and fairness”. They asked for an “investigation to be carried out by the General Inspectorate of Judicial Services into the numerous shortcomings which [had] been brought to light in the course of the judicial investigation”. They stated that the form and substance of the card addressed by the public prosecutor of Djibouti to Judge M. revealed a complicit intimacy that was surprising and regrettable, as the public prosecutor was directly subordinate to the executive, of which the head was “suspected very openly and very seriously of being the instigator of Bernard Borrel’s murder”. 34. Furthermore, extracts from that letter were included, together with statements made by the applicant to the journalist, in an article in the newspaper Le Monde published on 7 September and dated Friday 8 September 2000. The article read as follows. “THE LAWYERS acting for the widow of Judge Bernard Borrel, who was found dead in Djibouti in 1995 in mysterious circumstances, vigorously criticised Judge [M.], from whom the case was withdrawn last spring, in a letter to the Minister