itorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary."
A. Submissions by the parties
17. The applicant submitted that there had been no need to afford special protection to Judge Baskova, who had sued in her personal capacity. In both the defamation and compensation proceedings she had acted as an ordinary plaintiff rather than in her judicial capacity and the injunction had therefore not been required for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary. The authority of the judiciary would have been better served if proceedings had been transparent and the general public had been able to form an opinion on them. Furthermore, the scope of the interlocutory injunction had been greater than that of the defamation claim. Judge Baskova had only challenged the statement that she had used her office to her advantage, the remainder of the publication had not been contested. However, the injunction had prohibited any mention of the traffic accident or of the proceedings in which Judge Baskova had been involved. This created a paradoxical situation where the applicant had been prevented from reporting on ongoing civil proceedings which had been conducted in public and had been open to anyone. Obviously, such a broad prohibition had not been "necessary in a democratic society".
18. The Government submitted that an interference with the applicant's right to freedom of expression had been required for maintaining the authority of the judiciary, since it had been alleged that Judge Baskova had used her office to secure undue advantage in the civil proceedings. The domestic courts had determined that the reputation of Judge Baskova required heightened protection and thus the interference had pursued a "pressing social need". The interim measure had been proportionate to the legitimate aim as it had been strictly limited in its scope and time. Having regard to the accusatory nature of the allegation contained in the publication, a failure to indicate interim measures could have led to further publications and greater damage to Judge Baskova's reputation. Accordingly, the application of such interim measures had been of greater public importance than affording the applicant the possibility of "endless stirring-up of doubts about circumstances which were simultaneously being examined in judicial proceedings". Contrary to the applicant's claim, the injunction had not affected the publicity of civil proceedings because they had been open to anyone wishing to attend them and also because the applicant had had a vested interest in their outcome. Furthermore, the Government referred to the Court's finding to the effect that "the limits of permissible comment on pending... proceedings may not extend to statements which are likely to prejudice, whether intentionally or not, the chances of a person receiving a fair trial or to undermine the confidence of the public in the role of the courts in the administration of justice" (see News Verlags GmbH & Co. KG v. Austria, No. 31457/96, § 56, ECHR 2000-I). In the present case the Government considered that the purpose of the injunction had been the prevention of damage to Judge Baskova's right to a fair trial and to her authority as a judge. The applicant could have unreasonably undermined the judge's authority through her continued reporting on a dispute to which she had been a party and which was being considered by courts. If she had had doubts about the conduct of the judge, she could have applied to the judges' qualification panel with a complaint.
B. The Court's assessment
19. The Court reiterates that fr
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