Kimel reconstructed the judicial investigation of the massacre and, on this basis, issued a
value judgment on the performance of the Judiciary during the last military dictatorship in
Argentina” and that “Mr. Kimel did not use excessive language and based his opinion on the
events verified by the journalist himself” (para. 92).
6.
In this Judgment in the case of Mémoli v. Argentina, the Inter-American Court has had
to examine a case with very different characteristics to the Kimel case as regards the
dimension of the rights in conflict; despite this, it underscores, once again, the interrelation of
the exercise of journalism with the exercise of freedom of expression (para. 120).
Nevertheless, it is clear to the Court that freedom of expression is a right that corresponds to
everyone and not only to journalists, so that it is not correct to assimilate – or restrict – the
right to freedom of expression to the rights of journalists or the exercise of the profession of
journalism, because everyone has this right, not only journalists or those who express
themselves through the mass media.
7.
Indeed, everyone has the right to freedom of expression, not only journalists or the
mass media. In the exercise of this right, consequently, not only journalists are bound by the
Convention to ensure respect for the rights or the reputation of others, respecting the right to
honor, but so does everyone who makes use of this right to freedom of expression. Despite
this, based on the facts of the case, in this Judgment the Court places emphasis on the duty
of the journalist to verify the events on which he bases his opinions, acting with “fairness and
diligence in crosschecking sources and seeking information” (para. 122). And this is why, in
the same paragraph, the Court recalls that journalists must exercise their work respecting the
principles of “responsible journalism.”
8.
The provisions that protect the right to freedom of expression are components of a vast
system of juridical and human rights. In this context, the complementary and dialectic
relationship between each right may eventually lead to collisions and conflicts that must be
processed and decided by law, as appropriate, so that the exercise of these rights does not lead
to excesses in some rights that eventually affect the exercise of others. This gives rise to an
essential component of rights, which is that, in general, they are not and cannot be considered
“absolute,” insofar as there are other rights with which they must co-exist and coordinate.
9.
Thus, in its consistent case law, the Inter-American Court has reiterated that, since it is
not absolute, the right to freedom of expression established in Article 13 of the Convention,
right may be subject to the subsequent imposition of liability (subparagraph 2) or to
restrictions (subparagraphs 4 and 5). This principle is repeated in the Judgment (para. 123),
which, in its findings, never refers to “restrictions” but, specifically, to the “subsequent
imposition of liability,” which is not a synonymous concept. Indeed, as emphasized in Article
13(2) of the Convention, if the exercise of freedom of expression interferes with other rights
guaranteed by the Convention, the subsequent imposition of liability may be claimed for the
abusive exercise of this right. If this was not possible, the Convention would be proposing the
“absolute” nature of this right which is legally and conceptually unsustainable. This is precisely
the specific area of this Judgment in which the Court has taken great care not to equate “the
subsequent imposition of liability” and “restrictions,” because they are different concepts. The
core of this Judgment is a situation in which what is in question is, specifically, the subsequent
liability in relation to an alleged infringement of “respect for the rights or reputations of others”
subparagraph (a) of Article 13(2)).
10.
In this case, the consideration that the Court gives to the right to protection of honor
and the recognition of dignity as a right clearly stipulated in the Convention and that the
State, consequently, must ensure, is a crucial element (paras. 124 and ff.). As in the case of
other rights (such as freedom of expression), the protection of the right to honor entails an
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