Decision of the Court of Cassation, IV Criminal Section, No. 11895 of 12 march 2014

The Court of Cassation annulled the seizure of a website, which had been ordered by the competent court as a provisional measure, during the investigation on a case of suspected defamation (Article 595 of the criminal code). Remembering its own jurisprudence and the decision of the European Court of Human Rights of 2013 in the case Wqgrzynowski and Smolczewski v. Poland, the Court observed that when a seizure regards any support utilized for disseminating information or criticism on facts concerning the life of the community and of public interest, this measure impacts not only on property rights, but also on the freedom of expression guaranteed by the ECHR (Article 10), the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (Article 11) and the Italian Constitution (Article 21).