98. In this regard, the Court notes that all the violations alleged by the Applicant
relate in one way or another, directly or indirectly, to the non-execution of
the aforementioned decisions.
99. The Court also notes that it has not received any report from the
Respondent State on the execution of the said decisions, nor does the
Respondent State dispute that it has not executed them.
100. In view of the foregoing, the Court considers that the Respondent State
violated Article 30 of the Protocol.
D. On the alleged violation of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
101. The Applicant points out that Article 410(1)(3) of the Respondent State's
Penal Code provides that:
Any person who, by acts, speech or writings, publicly seeks to discredit a
judicial act or decision, under conditions likely to undermine the authority of
the judiciary or its independence, shall be liable to one (1) month to six (06)
months' imprisonment and a fine of One Hundred Thousand (100,000) to
One Million (1,000,000) CFA francs, or to one of these two penalties only.
...The foregoing provisions shall in no case be applied to purely technical
comments in specialized journals, nor to acts, speech or writings calling for
the revision of a conviction.
102. He alleges that these provisions infringe the freedom of opinion and
expression protected by Article 19 of the ICCPR by restricting the right to
freedom of the media to specialized journals and by granting the freedom
to criticize a court decision only in respect of the review of a conviction,
rather than in respect of the exercise of all remedies.
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