er is created to provide a public service it may have its own editorial policy and must not necessarily be neutral in its views. The choice of the material that goes into a newspaper, the decisions made as to limitations on the size and content of the paper and the treatment of public issues and public officials - whether fair or unfair - constitute the exercise of editorial control and judgment. Therefore, if the editor-in-chief had refused to accept the applicant's article when it was submitted for publication, the Court would analyse this situation through the prism of "right of access to the press", which enjoys only minimal, if any, protection under the Convention.
55. However, the present case is not about the applicant's "right of access to the press". The Court considers that the situation at hand should be analysed through the prism of "interference" with the applicant's freedom of speech, for the following reasons.
(a) The article was already in the "public domain"
56. First, the Court notes that copies of the newspaper were withdrawn and destroyed after the article had been accepted by the editorial board, and after it had been printed and made public. Thus, the article became available to the subscribers and to readers in State libraries. For the purposes of Article 10, after publication of the article, any decision limiting the circulation of the applicant's article should be regarded as an interference with his freedom of expression, notwithstanding the fact that it was taken by the editor-in-chief of the newspaper.
(b) The newspapers were withdrawn because of the content of the applicant's article
57. Second, the Court notes that the main reason for the withdrawal was the content of the applicant's article. The courts which examined the applicant's civil claims (see paragraph 26 above) did not analyse that aspect of the case. They simply treated the public information business like any other form of business, and the copies of the newspaper like any other product for sale. For them, the newspaper had an unqualified right to dispose of its property (the print run); therefore, the reasons for the withdrawal were irrelevant. However, those reasons are relevant for the Court's analysis under Article 10 of the Convention. The Court will examine that matter in the light of the other materials in the case file, and in particular the findings of the domestic criminal investigation.
58. Mr Svistunov (the editor-in-chief) testified that the applicant's article about the privatisation of the power plant had been interesting and that he had considered it suitable for publication (see paragraph 16 above). Therefore, the article was published not as the result of a mere technical error; the editor-in-chief took an informed decision based on his assessment of the substance and form of the article.
59. If a part of the print run remained unsold after a while, the information in the newspaper would become outdated and, for that reason, the editor-in-chef would have every reason to withdraw the newspaper from sale. In such case there would be no interference with the applicant's freedom of speech. However, this was not the case: it is clear from the decision of 31 January 2003 to close the investigation (see paragraph 17 above) that the decision to withdraw the newspapers was also based on an assessment, albeit different, of the content of the article.
60. The Government appeared to admit this; at the very least, they conceded that the editor-in-chief had withdrawn the newspapers out of fear of possible sanctions (civil or administrative) related to the content of the article at issue.
61. The Court does not detect anything in issue No. 44 that would call for its withdrawal other than the applicant's article. It concludes that the withdrawal was ordered on account of the content of that
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