Filming permit refused - SF wins in Strasbourg
According to the European Court of Human Rights, the Swiss Confederation has violated the freedom of information vis-à-vis Swiss Television SF. In 2004, SF was refused permission to film an interview with an imprisoned murderess.
In August 2004, Swiss television unsuccessfully asked the management of the Hindelbank women's prison in Bern to allow filming of a woman who had murdered her husband in Bern in 1998. The interview with her was to be shown in the program Rundschau in view of the upcoming trial against one of the perpetrators. The negative decision of the station management was confirmed by the Federal Supreme Court in 2006. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG subsequently appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Its fifth division ruled on Thursday by five votes to two that the Swiss authorities and courts had violated the freedom of information under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights ECHR by categorically refusing to grant SF permission to film. According to the judges in Strasbourg, the federal authorities did not sufficiently examine whether the filming ban was actually necessary for security reasons or to protect the rights of fellow prisoners. The imprisoned interviewee herself did not need to be protected, especially as she had given her consent. Overall, the various interests at stake had not been sufficiently weighed up. Switzerland had not been able to show that the absolute ban on filming would meet a compelling social need. (sda)
