MORICE v. FRANCE JUDGMENT
1
In the case of Morice v. France,
The European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Grand Chamber
composed of:
Dean Spielmann, President,
Josep Casadevall,
Guido Raimondi,
Isabelle Berro,
Ineta Ziemele,
George Nicolaou,
Luis López Guerra,
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska,
Ann Power-Forde,
Zdravka Kalaydjieva,
Julia Laffranque,
Erik Møse,
André Potocki,
Johannes Silvis,
Valeriu Griţco,
Ksenija Turković,
Egidijus Kūris, judges,
and Johan Callewaert, Deputy Grand Chamber Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 21 May 2014 and 18 February 2015,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on the lastmentioned date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in an application (no. 29369/10) against the
French Republic lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the
Convention”) by a French national, Mr Olivier Morice (“the applicant”), on
7 May 2010.
2. The applicant was represented by Ms C. Audhoui and Mr J. Tardif,
lawyers practising in Paris. The French Government (“the Government”)
were represented by their Agent, Ms E. Belliard, Director of Legal Affairs,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
3. The applicant alleged that there had been a breach of the principle of
impartiality under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention in proceedings before the
Court of Cassation and that his freedom of expression, as guaranteed by
Article 10, had been breached on account of his conviction.
4. The application was allocated to the Fifth Section of the Court
(Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court). On 11 June 2013 a Chamber of that