Today, the International Commission of Jurists and the Open Society Justice Initiative submitted a third party intervention before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Gîrleanu v. Romania.
Marian Gîrleanu was journalist fined for having been in information considered confidential by the Romania state authorities concerning international involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The information was never published. In their intervention, the ICJ and OSJI submit that sanctions for unauthorized possession or disclosure of information by journalists and other similarly protected persons may seriously impair their rights under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights right to receive and impart information, and may only be applied in very exceptional circumstances. The two human rights organizations stress that it is the State, not journalists, that is responsible for the protection of government information. Journalists and other who perform a public watchdog function that is fundamental to a democratic to a democratic society may not be subject to sanctions for possession or disclosure in the public interest of information.
ECtHR-ThirdPartyIntervention-Girlenau-Romania-2013 (Read the third party intervention)