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The applicants, who were Russian journalists working for a state media company, went to Lithuania to interview the participants of a high-level political event being conducted on Russian topical issues. These participants included, among others, various political opposition activists from Russia.
The applicants had no accreditation for the event, but still tried to gain access deceptively. On two separate occasions, they behaved aggressively with the participants despite being warned by the police. The Lithuanian authorities decided to expel them from the country and banned them from re-entering the country for one year.
The Court also upheld the same. Further, the Court also emphasized upon the concept of responsible journalism, which includes the lawful conduct of a journalist.
Since the journalists in this case breached the law, acted irresponsibly and threatened national security, the state was justified in expelling them from the country and banning their re-entry for one year. All four of them performed different functions β the first applicant Pavel Zarubin worked as a reporter, the second applicant Alexander Makarov worked as a sound operator, the third applicant Andrey Melnikov was a cameraman, while the fourth applicant Alexey Kazakov acted as a chief editor [para.
