The SCJ rejected the BC’s appeal against the ruling of the Court of Appeal annulling the sanction against TV8

The BC lawyers challenged at the SCJ the decision of the Court of Appeal, by which the BC decision regarding the application of a 7,000 lei fine for the lack of balance of opinions in an edition of the Natalia Morari’s Politics program was annulled. The BC representatives stated in the application that “no evidence was brought to court to prove that the challenged decision was illegal.”

In the opinion of the BC’s lawyer, by invoking the right to freedom of expression, TV8 “is trying to mislead the court and to remove the incidence of the object of legal liability from its actions, which it considers legitimate.” The appellant stated that the television station was sanctioned for the fact that in the Natalia Morari’s Politics program of October 6, 2020, the main opposing views of the persons targeted by accusations were not presented and the host intervened in order to present her own point of view.

TV8 described the broadcasting regulator’s decision as “an intimidation of journalists and an attack on freedom of expression.”

The SCJ magistrates Maria Ghervas, Victor Burdus, and Nina Vascan declared inadmissible the appeal filed by the Broadcasting Council. “Examining the grounds invoked in relation to the case materials, the committee specialized in examining administrative litigation actions in the Civil, Commercial, and Administrative Litigation Panel of the Supreme Court of Justice finds it inadmissible,” the SCJ document reads.

The SCJ’s pronouncement is irrevocable.