Bouton c. France, requête n° 22636/19, CEDH, 2023. Bouton v. France Application No. 22636/19 (on freedom of political expression)
In the case of Bouton v. France, the applicant, a feminist activist who was a member of Femen, was convicted and given a one-month suspended prison sentence (i.e. with probation) for staging a topless protest in a church in December 2013, exposing her breasts with slogans daubed over them, as part of an international action against the Catholic Church’s position on abortion. She was also ordered to pay the parish representative 2,000 euros (EUR) in respect of non-pecuniary damages and to pay EUR 1,500 towards the other party’s costs.