Selmani and Others v. “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”
The case concerned the forcible removal of journalists from the national Parliament gallery where they were reporting on a parliamentary debate about approval of the State budget for 2013. During the debate a group of opposition MPs had started creating a disturbance in the parliamentary chamber, and had been ejected by security officers.
The applicants, accredited journalists, had refused to leave the gallery, a designated area for journalists, and ended up being forcibly removed by security. They brought proceedings before the Constitutional Court to complain about the incident, and contest the fact that there was no oral hearing before this court for them to challenge the facts as disputed between the parties.
The European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:
- a violation of Article 6 (right to a fair hearing) of the European Convention on Human Rights on account of the Constitutional Court’s failure to hold an oral hearing, and
- a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on account of the applicants’ removal from the Parliament gallery by security.
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