Freedom of Speech (Art 10)

What are the limits of the freedom of speech?

Visions of Ecstasy 1989 NIGEL WINGROVE poster

If you want (but only if you want), you can watch Visions of Ecstasy here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwMgEjfJzzU

Religious Freedom (Art 9)

E.S v. Austria was a case held before the ECHR. The applicant, E.S., is an Austrian national who was born in 1971 and lives in Vienna.

In October and November 2009, Mrs S. held two seminars entitled “Basic Information on Islam”, in which she discussed the marriage between the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a six-year old girl, Aisha, which was consummated when she was nine. Inter alia, the applicant stated that Muhammad “liked to do it with children” and “… A 56-year-old and a six-year-old? … What do we call it, if it is not paedophilia?”.

On 15 February 2011, the Vienna Regional Criminal Court found that these statements implied that Muhammad had had paedophilic tendencies, and convicted Mrs S. for disparaging religious doctrines. She was ordered to pay a fine of 480 euros and the costs of the proceedings. Mrs S. appealed but the Vienna Court of Appeal upheld the decision in December 2011, confirming in essence the lower court’s findings.