Strasbourg: Austrian politician suffered no article 6 violation following neo-Nazi allusion

In its decision in the case of Haupt v. Austria, the European Court of Human Rights has unanimously declared the application inadmissible. The decision is final.

The applicant, Herbert Haupt, was chairperson of the Austrian Freedom Party between 2002 and 2004, and Vice Chancellor of the Federal Government between February and October 2003.

In an episode of the satirical comedy show Das Letze der Woche (which aired in September 2003), the host suggested that Mr Haupt was “usually surrounded by little brown rats”. This was regarded as an allusion to neo-Nazis. Mr Haupt brought proceedings in Austria against ATV, the television company which had broadcast the programme. Though his claim had been initially successful in 2004-5, his case was ultimately rejected after the Supreme Court re-opened proceedings in 2009.

Mr Haupt complained to the court that, by rejecting his claim, the Austrian courts had violated his right to protection of reputation. However, the court held that his complaint was manifestly ill-founded, because the Austrian courts had struck a fair balance between Mr Haupt’s right to protection of reputation and ATV’s right to freedom of expression. In particular, the court noted that the reference to “brown rats” around Mr Haupt had not been a personal criticism of him. Instead, it had been a political criticism of his attitude towards other members of his party. This satirical value judgment had had a sufficient factual basis, given the various problematic statements made by politicians of the Austrian Freedom Party which had been recorded by the Austrian courts.

The court also held inadmissible Mr Haupt’s complaint that the proceedings had exceeded a reasonable length; and Mr Haupt’s complaint that the re-opening of the proceedings had violated his right to property.