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issued by the Registrar of the Court   ECHR 156 (2017)   18.05.2017   Judgments and decisions of 18 May 2017   The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing 13 judgments1 and 68 decisions2:   two Chamber judgments are summarised below; a separate press release has been issued for one   other Chamber judgment in the case of Jóhannesson and Others v. Iceland (application   no. 22007/11);   ten Committee judgments, concerning issues which have already been submitted to the Court, and   the 68 decisions, can be consulted on Hudoc and do not appear in this press release.   The judgments in French below are indicated with an asterisk (*).   Petrie v. Italy (application no. 25322/12)*   The applicant, David Petrie, is a United Kingdom national who was born in 1951 and lives in Verona.   He is Chair of the Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy (ALLSI).   The case concerned the dismissal of an action for defamation brought by Mr Petrie.   On 26 February 1997, at a hearing of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee of the European   Parliament concerning the position of non-Italian foreign lecturers working in Italian universities,   Mr Petrie made the following remarks: “Now, how does this happen ? It happens because there is a   system in Italy, and it’s difficult to translate, the word is ‘raccomandazioni’, it comes from the word   ‘to recommend’.” X, Director-General of the department for university autonomy in the Italian   Ministry of Universities and Scientific and Technological Research, and Y, a university   Vice-Chancellor, were also present at the meeting.   On 23 January 1998 Mr Petrie took part in a public meeting organised by the University of Bologna   during which X stated that “a lecturer present in the auditorium [had] accused Italy, in the European   Parliament Committee in Brussels, of being a country run by the Mafia”. Believing himself to have   been accused, Mr Petrie replied that he had never used the word “Mafia”, and asked X to withdraw   his remarks. Y then intervened, claiming that X’s remarks were true. X and Y refused to withdraw   their statements.   On 4 July 1998 Mr Petrie brought an action for damages in the Bologna District Court against X and   Y, claiming that they had attributed remarks to him which he had never made and that his   reputation, honour and personal identity had been damaged. On 6 April 2002 the District Court   allowed his claims, finding that Mr Petrie had not said that Italy was “a country run by the Mafia”. It   ordered X and Y jointly to pay Mr Petrie 19,000 euros (EUR) in respect of non-pecuniary damage and   EUR 6,520 in legal costs. X and Y appealed against that judgment to the Bologna Court of Appeal,   which allowed their appeal and dismissed Mr Petrie’s action for defamation. Mr Petrie was ordered   to repay the court costs incurred by X and Y (EUR 4,500). He appealed unsuccessfully on points   of law.   Under Articles 43 and 44 of the Convention, Chamber judgments are not final. During the three-month period following a Chamber   judgment’s delivery, any party may request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber of the Court. If such a request is made, a   panel of five judges considers whether the case deserves further examination. In that event, the Grand Chamber will hear the case and   deliver a final judgment. If the referral request is refused, the Chamber judgment will become final on that day. Under Article 28 of the   Convention, judgments delivered by a Committee are final.   Once a judgment becomes final, it is transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for supervision of its execution.   Further information about the execution process can be found here: www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/execution   Inadmissibility and strike-out decisions are final.   Relying on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on   Human Rights, Mr Petrie argued that the dismissal of his action for defamation had amounted to   unjustified interference with his right to protection of his reputation and his right to respect for his   private life.   No violation of Article 8   Bože v. Latvia (no. 40927/05)   The applicant, Valdis Boze, is a Latvian national who was born in 1958 and lives in Riga. The case   concerned his complaint about a search and seizure in his apartment.   In June 2004 the police carried out an undercover investigation into an allegation that Mr Boze was   selling unlicensed medicine for treating HIV, hepatitis and cancer via the Internet. The undercover   officers arranged to meet Mr Boze near his apartment and bought some of the medicine. They   immediately told him about the operation and proceeded to carry out an inspection of his   apartment. Mr Boze was informed that the inspection of his home was to be carried out under the   relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The inspection, lasting five hours, resulted in   the seizure of a number of items, including Mr Boze’s computer and computer hard drive. He was   subsequently fined in two sets of administrative proceedings for manufacturing and selling   unauthorised pharmaceutical products. In the meantime, Mr Boze had submitted various complaints   to both the police and prosecuting authorities, alleging that the inspection had amounted to a   search and that this search had been unlawful. All his complaints were however dismissed, the   authorities finding that the inspection and seizure had been in accordance with the relevant   provisions of the Law on the Police.   Relying in particular on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life, the home and the   correspondence), Mr Boze alleged that the search of his apartment and the seizure of his personal   belongings were not authorised by law.   Violation of Article 8   Just satisfaction: 3,000 euros (EUR) (non-pecuniary damage)   This press release is a document produced by the Registry. It does not bind the Court. Decisions,   judgments and further information about the Court can be found on www.echr.coe.int. To receive   the Court’s press releases, please subscribe here: www.echr.coe.int/RSS/en or follow us on Twitter   @ECHR_Press.   Press contacts   [email protected] | tel: +33 3 90 21 42 08   Tracey Turner-Tretz (tel: + 33 3 88 41 35 30)   Denis Lambert (tel: + 33 3 90 21 41 09)   Inci Ertekin (tel: + 33 3 90 21 55 30)   George Stafford (tel: + 33 3 90 21 41 71)   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member   States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.   2