Who is responsible for insult or defamation through a publication?

Insult and defamation are crimes and are regulated by the Criminal Code (CC). They are crimes of a private nature - they are not prosecuted by the prosecutor's office. The defense is carried out at the request of the affected party by filing a complaint with the relevant court.

Quite common cases of insult and/or defamation occur in media publications, be it in print, electronic or other publications.

Read more about insult and defamation here

What is insult and defamation caused by a media publication?

Insult inflicted through publication occurs when an author of a printed, electronic, or other publication publishes something humiliating to the honor or dignity of another.

Defamation is the disclosure through publication of a disgraceful circumstance or the attribution of a crime to another. The information must be both false and disgraceful to qualify as defamation.

What if the insult was inflicted on a social network?

In what order can compensation be sought for damages suffered from insult and/or defamation?

Before the court, the victim must describe the nature of the insult and defamation and provide all evidence of this circumstance. This is how a private criminal case is filed. In this case, if the crime is proven, the court convicts the offender, and in most cases the fines provided for in the Criminal Code are imposed.

Compensation for the damages incurred can be sought in several ways. In one case, a civil claim for compensation is also filed in the criminal proceedings. In this case, the court rules on the commission of the crime, once, in its capacity as a crime (e.g. by imposing a fine), and a second time – in its capacity as a tort (e.g. by awarding a certain amount, acting as compensation).

It is also envisaged that a criminal trial can be conducted in parallel with a civil trial.

What compensation can be sought for damages suffered from insult and/or defamation?

Similar to the general case of claiming compensation, in the event of insult and/or defamation caused by publication, one may seek compensation for both material and non-material damages that are a direct and immediate consequence of the offense. It should be noted that the Criminal Code qualifies the infliction of insult and/or defamation in public (such as publication in a given publication) as a circumstance leading to a more serious sanction for the offender.

The property Damages can be expressed mainly in lost profits. For example, an insult and/or defamation is inflicted through a publication in a printed publication and the employer, influenced by the defamatory information, dismisses his employee. In this case, the unrealized income is in a direct causal relationship with the crime and is subject to compensation.

The occurrence of property damage must in any case be supported by evidence. The compensation will be equal to the exact value of the proven property damage.

Non-property Harms are part of the mental world of the person. They do not have an objective manifestation and in the case of insult and/or defamation they can be expressed in various ways - lowered self-esteem, as a result of violated honor and dignity, the experience of depressive states and any other emotional adversity.

Compensation for non-pecuniary damage is awarded in accordance with the principle of fair compensation enshrined in Art. 52 of the Obligations and Contracts Act (OCA). This means that the court determines the amount of compensation, guided by its understanding of fairness. However, the latter is by no means abstract. The court's assessment is based on factors taken into account in the specific case, e.g. the intensity of the negative emotional turmoil.

Who is responsible for insults and/or defamation when they are expressed through a publication?

When damages occur during or in connection with the performance of work, the person who commissioned the work is liable. This situation is an expression of the principle „Qui habet commoda, ferre debet onera“ – „To whom the benefits, to him the damages“.

When an insult and/or defamation is caused through a publication in a printed, electronic or other publication, liability may be sought. by the publisher of the publication, and the author of the publication may be held jointly and severally liable.

The question was put before the court „"Can and should the editor of the publication be held liable"?

In its decision of May 2020, the Supreme Court of Cassation (VKS) states that Responsibility for publishing defamatory circumstances should be borne by the person who published the publication..

The editor of a printed, electronic or other publication is neither the author of the defamatory publication, nor is he the client or employer, i.e. he did not commission the performance of a certain work. Thus VKS accepts that, in principle, the editor cannot be held liable for the information presented by the journalist.

However, the Court commented on exceptions to this general position. An editor can be held liable for his own unlawful conduct when it involves causing insult and/or defamation through publication.

When does the editor respond?

• The editor is liable when the dissemination of offensive and/or defamatory information is due to his/her personal actions. For example, without the knowledge and/or consent of the author, the editor inserted defamatory information about a subject into the publication. The Supreme Court of Cassation holds that: „"In this case, the publisher of this information (despite the formal authorship of the article) would be the editor-in-chief, not the journalist."“
• The editor's responsibility should also be realized when he knew that the information in the publication was false, humiliating and infringing on the honor and dignity of another subject, but despite being aware of this circumstance, he allowed the dissemination of this information through its publication.

The limits of freedom of speech are often abused, resulting in the disclosure of information that is humiliating to someone's honor or dignity, or of shameful circumstances. In these cases, the affected individuals should seek protection of their rights, because only in this way can the rule of law and justice be guaranteed.