On 24 October, President of the Supreme Court of Latvia Aigars Strupišs and Senator Sanita Osipova take part in an international conference organised by the Council of Europe and the Supreme Court of Lithuania entitled "Vilnius Dialogue: Fostering the Culture of Public Debate in Europe".

This is a dialogue on the implementation of the requirements of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, strengthening the capacity of courts, protecting freedom of expression and preventing abusive lawsuits against those who advocate for public interest issues (so-called strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), the role of courts in ensuring freedom of expression in the fight against propaganda and disinformation during war and emergency situations.

"Democracy is not granted, it is upkept", said Aigars Strupišs, President of the Supreme Court of Latvia, when addressing the conference participants, pointing to the very thin and very fragile line between the most important foundation of democracy – freedom of expression – and the limitation of this principle in case of a threat to democracy.

He pointed out that today's reality – information technology and social media – is a wonderful tool for the exchange of ideas and information, but at the same time it enables the dissemination of false information, propaganda and a lot of negative and destructive emotions. As a response, the restriction of expression is often applied, because from the point of view of the authorities this is easier than to have a rational and well-argued discussion.

This situation also poses new challenges to courts as guardians of democracy and justice. There is no simple and universal answer to these issues, yet by discussing and solving specific cases, step by step, the solutions will arrive. "I come from a country that has till living memory of totalitarianism. Therefore, for me personally it might be more acceptable to err on the side of protecting a speech rather than on the side of limiting it," said Aigars Strupišs, while reminding the participants of the paradox of tolerance as defined by philosopher Carl Popper: a tolerant democratic society must be intolerant of intolerance in order to survive.

Senator Sanita Osipova gave a presentation on the permissible limits of criticism of public officials. The Senator addressed criticism of the work of public officials, including judges, from two perspectives. Firstly, from the point of view of the right to freedom of expression, which also allows for political participation in a democracy, including publicly expressing one's opinion on decisions taken within the country and the implementation thereof, which is closely related to the evaluation of the performance of public officials. The right of journalists to obtain and disseminate information is of particular importance here. Secondly, the evaluation of communication among public bodies themselves, i.e. among public officials, which often contains accusations and criticism, including unfounded criticism, of the actions of other public officials. A particularly sensitive issue is unjustified criticism of the work of judges, which undermines public confidence not only in the courts, but in the rule of law in the country in general.

The Vilnius Dialogue, which is being held under the Lithuanian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, is aimed at strengthening dialogue, exchange of experience and good practice in the field of freedom of expression among constitutional and cassation courts, the European Court of Human Rights, ministries of justice, government representatives at the ECHR, academics and journalists from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine and other Council of Europe member states.

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211