In addition, defamation of the Parliament (or the legislator of an Autonomous Community) or its laws constitutes an offence within the meaning of Article 496. The penalty is a fine of 12 to 18 months. According to Article 504, the same penalty applies to serious defamation against the national government, the General Council of Justice, constitutional courts and supreme courts (national and those of an autonomous community), the armed forces and the security forces. In other countries, including the UK, draconian defamation laws have almost created a culture of silence in some media sectors. Letslav can help you, whether you have been accused of a crime against honour or you have been the victim of a crime of defamation and defamation, in order to obtain the appropriate financial compensation and conviction of the offender. Whether defamation, oral speech or defamation requiring written, broadcast or otherwise published words, there is always uncertainty. The penalties provided for in the Criminal Code for this type of offence are punishable by imprisonment from 6 months to 2 years in the case of defamation or a fine of 12 to 24 months if it is publicly disseminated, and otherwise by a fine of 6 to 12 months. The Spanish Penal Code provides for two general types of offences against honour: defamation (art. 205) and defamation (art. 208). February 2022 – Defamation of someone who uses social media is taken very seriously in Spain, as a young man from Palma de Mallorca has just learned.

Four police officers searched a property where an illegal assembly was taking place, and the young man filmed what was happening and posted the footage on a social media platform claiming they were acting illegally. The officials were in fact only doing their duty, and a court yesterday fined the young man 12,000 euros for paying allowances to civil servants. 3,000 euros to each officer for defamation against him and his “wounded honor”. Then, in this article, we`ll discuss some of the important evidence that the person concerned must gather (and be willing to provide) to ensure the success of your defamation lawsuit. Keep in mind that evidence should focus on satisfying all elements of a defamation claim. This is sometimes referred to as a prima facie case. In short, in general, all of the following must be respected: Indeed, defamation law can be very confusing and harsh, as there is a maze of complex Spanish laws and defamation laws, as well as a variety of jurisdictions issued by both the Spanish Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. Defamation or defamation “against the King, the Queen, one of their relatives or descendants, wives, the Regent or a member of the Regency or the Prince or Princess of Asturias” constitutes an offence within the meaning of Article 490(3). The offence is serious, the penalty is imprisonment from six months to two years. Otherwise, the penalty is a fine of six to 12 months. Any other defamation or defamation of a king is punishable by a fine of four to 20 months (art.

491 para. 1). Spain has very strict laws on defamation and distortion (Articles 205 and 208 of the Spanish Penal Code), so before posting about a place/person, think about it carefully, otherwise you could end up with a very heavy fine, so be careful what you write on social media in Spain Finally, From a procedural point of view, there are two possible legal steps; either by means of criminal proceedings or, in the alternative, civil proceedings. Through the civil courts, the purpose of bringing the action was to obtain financial compensation from the defendant. In February 2014, the director of Spain`s Guardia Civil, Arsenio Fernández de Mesa, threatened criminal defamation and defamation, apparently in connection with allegations that the Guardia Civil stationed in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in northern Morocco had mistreated potential asylum seekers. The threat came after reports that at least 11 migrants from Western Sahara had died trying to reach Ceuta. Fernández de Mesa vigorously defended the actions of the Guardia Civil, saying in response to the allegations: “This is not fair and there are certain limits that cannot be crossed. The Guardia Civil cannot be charged with any type of crime. Here are the official criminal justice data from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics for 2013: • There were 25 criminal convictions for defamation • There were 73 criminal convictions for defamation We distinguish defamation from defamation as an infringement of the right to honour.

If the injured parties are minors (i.e. persons under 18 years of age), reference should be made to Organization Act 1/1996 of 15 January 1996 on the legal protection of minors, a partial amendment to the Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure, and in particular to the related provisions of article 4 of Organization Act 1/1996. of 15 January. Students at Rey Juan Carlos University demand the resignation of Cristina Cifuentes and the rector of the university, Javier Ramos, in Madrid, Spain, 12. April 2018, Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty Images And while the prospect of incriminating someone with a criminal record for such a case may seem repressive, Spanish courts fortunately generally prefer freedom of expression to the reputation of the individual, and cases of defamation are rare. In 2008, the mayor of the small town of Puerto Real was fined 6,480 euros for calling the king “weak” and “libertine”. José Antonio Barroso complained of a “democratic deficiency” during his appearance before the court, considering that it was not possible to talk about the king, his “illegal affairs” or his “assets of unknown origin”. The Court held that the right to freedom of expression does not include insulting the “ultimate core of a person`s dignity” and that the language used by Barroso is not necessary to express his point of view. Spain is probably one of the most flexible with trolls. The Policia Nacional`s approach to trolls is a) to ignore, b) block and c) report if it is a crime.

You missed (d) who was supposed to sue for defamation or defamation. Some of the officials involved in the reports responded by filing criminal charges for revealing secrets, as well as a civil lawsuit against Público and journalist Patricia López. The criminal charges were eventually dropped, and on the 8th. In January 2018, nearly three years after the first articles appeared, a Madrid court of first instance dismissed the civil action after concluding that the published information was true. The judge wrote: Article 543 of the Spanish Penal Code prohibits “live or written crimes or atrocities. against Spain, its Autonomous Communities or their symbols or emblems”. The penalty is a fine of seven to 12 months. However, the charges against Ejerique and Escolar had already been initiated. On Monday, May 21, the two men were forced to appear in court for a mandatory preliminary hearing during which Cifuentes` lawyers tried to get them to remove the items in question.

“While we welcome the preference given to public communication strategies to counter disinformation over restrictions-based approaches, we are concerned that disinformation is seen as a national security issue and that the objectives, measures and levels of the national process do not determine the purpose they sought to protect. Antonio, can you please tell me if it is illegal to have free dogs on the street, and who is responsible for enforcing a law and cleaning up the mess that dogs make on the streets? Whoever is responsible (Ayuntamiento, civil or owner), how do you force him to act? Thank you very much. In the case of a civil action, it must be instituted within four years from the date on which the plaintiff is able to bring an action against the violation of his right to honour. On the other hand, the Spanish Penal Code (Article 131.1) stipulates that any measure must be taken within one year from the date on which the offence was committed. If a plaintiff chooses criminal proceedings, the limitation period for a civil action continues to run in parallel and is not interrupted by the initiation of criminal proceedings. The convict spread ideas of “extermination” and persecution on religious grounds for Muslims on Facebook. The Criminal Code provides for a prison sentence of one to four years for public incitement to discrimination or violence against a group of persons on racist, anti-Semitic or ideological or religious grounds. If these two conditions are met, you can probably resort to generous doses of irony, sarcasm, caricature and humour, as they are all part of the right to freedom of expression and opinion, especially since Franco`s Spain is a distant memory.

“We knew she would persecute us, but we expected a civil trial,” Ejerique said in an interview with the International Press Institute (IPI) on April 11. Another example of this can be found in a case of the Spanish Constitutional Court, in which a well-known radio journalist covering a meeting between a terrorist group and the then interim president of the Catalan government used pejorative terminology to refer to him, which led to the opening of proceedings against the journalist for violating the right to honor of the politician.