MORICE v. FRANCE JUDGMENT 49 present case to justify the applicant’s conviction. It first notes that the use of available remedies, on the one hand, and the right to freedom of expression, on the other, do not pursue the same aim and are not interchangeable. That being said, the Court takes the view that the defence of a client by his lawyer must be conducted not in the media, save in very specific circumstances (see paragraph 138 above), but in the courts of competent jurisdiction, and this involves using any available remedies. It notes that in the present case the referral to the Indictments Division of the Paris Court of Appeal patently showed that the initial intention of the applicant and his colleague was to resolve the matter using the available remedies. It was, in reality, only after that remedy had been used that the problem complained of occurred, as recorded by the investigating judge P. in his official report of 1 August 2000 (see paragraph 32 above). At that stage the Indictments Division was no longer in a position to examine such complaints, precisely because it had withdrawn the case from Judges M. and L.L. The Court further notes that, in any event, four and a half years had already elapsed since the opening of the judicial investigation, which has still not been closed to date. It also observes that the civil parties and their lawyers took an active part in the proceedings and, in particular, that they succeeded, according to the judgment of the Versailles Court of Appeal of 28 May 2009, in having a material witness examined in Belgium in spite of a lack of interest in him on the part of the investigating judges M. and L.L. (see paragraph 16 above). 172. Moreover, the request for an investigation made to the Minister of Justice complaining of these new facts was not a judicial remedy – such as to justify possibly refraining from intervention in the press – but a mere request for an administrative investigation subject to the discretionary decision of the Minister of Justice. The Court notes in this connection that the domestic judges themselves, both at first instance and on appeal, took the view that the letter could not enjoy the immunity afforded to judicial acts, the Criminal Court having found that its content was purely informative (see paragraphs 38 and 46 above). The Court observes that it has not been argued that this request was acted upon and, in addition, it notes that Judges M. and L.L. clearly did not see it as the normal use of a remedy available under domestic law, but as an act justifying the filing of a complaint for false accusation (see paragraph 35 above). 173. Lastly, the Court finds that neither the Principal Public Prosecutor nor the relevant Bar Council or chairman of the Bar found it necessary to bring disciplinary proceedings against the applicant on account of his statements in the press, although such a possibility was open to them (see Mor, cited above, § 60).