MORICE v. FRANCE JUDGMENT 43 149. The applicant argued that his statements, as published in the newspaper Le Monde, served precisely to fulfil his task of defending his client – a task that was for him to determine. However, while it is not in dispute that the impugned remarks fell within the context of the proceedings, they were aimed at investigating judges who had been removed from the proceedings with final effect at the time they were made. The Court therefore fails to see how his statements could have directly contributed to his task of defending his client, since the judicial investigation had by that time been entrusted to another judge who was not the subject of the criticism. (b) Contribution to a debate on a matter of public interest 150. The applicant further relied on his right to inform the public of shortcomings in the handling of ongoing proceedings and to contribute to a debate on a matter of public interest. 151. On that point, the Court notes, firstly, that the applicant’s remarks were made in the context of the judicial investigation opened following the death of a French judge, Bernard Borrel, who had been seconded to the Djibouti Ministry of Justice as a technical adviser. The Court has already had occasion to note the significant media interest shown in this case from the outset (see July and SARL Libération, cited above, § 67), thus reflecting its prominence in public opinion. Like the applicant, the Court notes, moreover, that the justice system also contributed to informing the public of this case, as the investigating judge handling the case in 2007 asked the public prosecutor to issue a press release, under Article 11, paragraph 3, of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to announce that the suicide theory had been dismissed in favour of one of premeditated murder (see paragraphs 24 and 55 above). 152. In addition, as the Court has previously found, the public have a legitimate interest in the provision and availability of information regarding criminal proceedings (see July and SARL Libération, cited above, § 66) and remarks concerning the functioning of the judiciary relate to a matter of public interest (see paragraph 125 above). The Court has in fact already been called upon on two occasions, in Floquet and Esménard and July and SARL Libération (both cited above), to examine complaints relating to the Borrel case and to the right to freedom of expression in respect of comments on the handling of the judicial investigation, finding in each of those cases that there was a debate on a matter of public interest. 153. Accordingly, the Court takes the view that the applicant’s impugned remarks, which also concerned, as in the said judgments in Floquet and Esménard and July and SARL Libération, the functioning of the judiciary and the handling of the Borrel case, fell within the context of a debate on a matter of public interest, thus calling for a high level of