* Guest post By Dirk Voorhoof, Human Rights Centre, Ghent University and Legal Human Academy
In its recent judgment in Stomakhin v. Russia, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) launched the message to all domestic authorities to adopt a “cautious approach” in determining the scope of “hate speech” crimes and to avoid “excessive interference” with the right to freedom of expression, especially when action is taken against ‘hate speech’ or extremist opinions that are mere criticism of the government, state institutions and their policies and practices. The judgment of 9 May 2018, in which the ECtHR unanimously found a violation of Article 10 ECHR, sets an important [Read more…] about ECrtHR in Stomakhin v. Russia: no overbroad suppression of extremist opinions and ‘hate speech’