Shortly after the majority judgment in the case of Sinkova v. Ukraine (IRIS 2018-5/xx), the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has delivered a new judgment in a case of symbolic speech and expressive conduct, as part of the right to freedom of expression guaranteed under Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). The case concerns the conviction of two Spanish nationals, Enric Stern Taulats and Jaume Roura Capellera, for setting fire to a photograph of the royal couple, turned upside-down, at a public demonstration held during the Spanish King’s official visit to the Catalan city of Girona in 2007. The ECtHR considers the act at issue as a political statement, that did not constitute incitement to hatred or violence: an act of this type should be interpreted as the symbolic expression of dissatisfaction and protest. The ECtHR holds that the criminal conviction of the applicants for insult of the Crown was not necessary in a democratic society
