Lombardi Vallauri v. Italy, No. 39128/05, ECtHR, (Second Section), 20 October 2009

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Revocation of the approval of the Holy See and denial to renew the contract of a lecturer. Violation of article 10 of the ECHR in its "procedural profile".

 

Art. 6 ECHR
Art. 9 ECHR
Art. 10 ECHR
Art. 13 ECHR
Art. 14 ECHR

1. The freedom of expression recognized by Article 10 of the ECHR constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society, one of the primordial conditions for its progress and for the development of every individual. Without prejudice to the reservation of paragraph 2, it applies not only to "information" or "ideas" welcomed or considered harmless or indifferent, but also to those that offend, upset or disturb: thus is required by pluralism, tolerance and open-mindedness, without which there is no "democratic society".

2. The indefinite scope of the measure restricting freedom of expression or the absence of a detailed motivation for such measure, accompanied by the lack of an adequate judicial control over its application, leads to a violation of Article 10 of the Convention under a “procedural profile.
(The applicant, a professor at the “Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), had been denied the renewal of his annual teaching assignment, following the revocation of the approval by the Holy See, required as necessary by the current bilateral legislation (art. 10.3, “Accordo di Villa Madama”). The academic provision that rejected his candidacy was limited, however, to referring to the act of the ecclesiastical authority, without clarifying the reasons for the ouster. In the light of these circumstances, the Court observes that the University's interest in providing teaching inspired by catholic doctrine could not extend to the point of undermining the very substance of the procedural guarantees of Article 10 of the Convention, which implies at least the possibility of knowing the reasons for a possible limitation and of activating, with respect to them, an appropriate defense.