STANKIEWICZ AND OTHERS v. POLAND

FOURTH SECTION Application no. 48723/07 Andrzej STANKIEWICZ and others against Poland lodged on 29 October 2007 STATEMENT OF FACTS The first and second applicants, Mr Andrzej Stankiewicz and Ms Małgorzata Solecka, are Polish nationals who were born in 1974 and 1970 respectively and live in Piaseczno-Józefosław and Kraków. The third applicant, Presspublica sp. z o. o. is a limited liability company having its registered office in Warsaw. The company is the publisher of the daily newspaper “Rzeczpospolita” where the first and second applicants worked as journalists. The applicants are represented before the Court by Mr J. Kondracki, a lawyer practicing in Warsaw. A. The circumstances of the case The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows. 1. Civil proceedings instituted by W.D. It appears that A.F., the chief executive of the Polish branch of M.S.D. Inc., a large pharmaceutical company, approached journalists of the daily newspaper “Rzeczpospolita”. He informed them that the company had received a proposal to “arrange” the placement of its drug on the list of refunded drugs in exchange for a kickback. On 12 May 2003 “Rzeczpospolita” published on the front and fourth pages an article entitled “Millions of dollars for drugs” (“Leki za miliony dolarów”), written by the first and second applicants. The subtitle read: “A pharmaceutical company asserts that the Head of the Private Office of the Minister of Health...