h statements from a non-confidential document accurately without being liable for the content of such statements.
B. The Court's assessment
35. The Court reiterates that freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society and one of the basic conditions for its progress. Subject to paragraph 2 of Article 10, it is applicable not only to "information" or "ideas" that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb. Such are the demands of pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness, without which there is no "democratic society" (see Handyside v. the United Kingdom, 7 December 1976, § 49, Series A No. 24, and Jersild v. Denmark, 23 September 1994, § 37, Series A No. 298).
36. The Court notes that the three applicants were the co-defendants in a civil defamation case in connection with two publications in the newspaper of which they were the founders. The Russian courts found them liable for the alleged defamation and ordered them to pay damages to the plaintiffs. It follows that the applicants were directly affected by the impugned judgments which constituted an interference with their right to freedom of expression within the meaning of Article 10 § 1 of the Convention. Accordingly, the Court's task is to determine whether the interference was justified.
37. The Court reiterates that an interference will constitute a breach of Article 10 unless it was "prescribed by law", pursued one or more legitimate aims under paragraph 2 and was "necessary in a democratic society" for the achievement of those aims.
38. The parties agreed that civil liability for publication of untrue statements was foreseen by Article 152 of the Civil Code and in that sense the interference was "prescribed by law". The applicants, however, argued that they should have benefited from the protection afforded by the fair-reporting exception in section 57 of the Mass-Media Act, since the statement in question had been taken out of an official document. The domestic courts held that exception to be inapplicable in the applicants' case because the document at issue had been signed by "municipal officials" rather than "State officials" and had been circulated by an "autonomous non-commercial organisation" rather than a "public association". While the Court cannot but note the artificial nature of the distinction made, it considers that this issue will be more appropriately dealt with below, under the proportionality limb of its analysis.
39. The Government claimed that the interference pursued the legitimate aim of the "protection of the reputation or rights of others". The applicants and the third parties disagreed that public bodies and authorities, such as the courts' management department in the instant case, should fall within the meaning of "others" in Article 10 § 2 of the Convention. The third parties cited examples from jurisdictions around the world in which the courts prevented public authorities from suing in defamation because of the public interest in such authorities being open to uninhibited public criticism. The report to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the honouring of obligations and commitments by the Russian Federation also suggested that "the possibility of filing lawsuits against media and journalists by public authorities should be abolished as the latter per se cannot possess any dignity, honour, or reputation" (see paragraph 25 above). The Court acknowledges that there may be sound policy reasons to decide that public bodies should not have standing to sue in defamation in their own capacity; however, it is not its task to examine the domestic legislation in the abstract but rather consider the manner in which that legislation was applied to, or affected, the applicant in a particular case (see Kar
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