El derecho a la libertad de expresión en la jurisprudencia del Tribunal Europeo de Derecho Humanos : dos casos españoles

Freedom of speech is in every of its manifestations one the most important rights of human beings. That explains why it is considered as a preferred freedom, and granted protection against any kind of arbitrary interference on the part of public authorities. This concept, that we fully share, infuses the European Court jurisprudence, and it is supposed to permeate any case that comes under its consideration. The judgment in Jose Luis Gutierrez v. Spain was a good example in that sense; but the ruling in Otegui v. Spain did not meet the logical expectations. In our opinion, the Court should have regarded Otegui’s announcement as a clear signal of ‘hate speech’, and as such, without the protection of article 10 of the Con-