The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has on numerous occasions expressed its concerns regarding examples of applying regulations of the Penal Code that penalize defamation towards journalists in Poland. At the same time, the Foundation has long demanded for Article 212, which provides grounds to sentence an individual even to the punishment of imprisonment for defamation, to be removed from the Polish Penal Code.(08-NOV-07)
Written by Agnieszka Chmielecka/ HRH Warsaw
In recent days, a discussion broke out in the Polish media regarding the Warsaw District Court’s ruling to detain and compulsorily bring two journalists from ‘Gazeta Polska’, one of the daily newspapers, to another trial in a case regarding defamation, in which private accusation was brought by the television station TVN.
The position of the ECHR
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg deems that in case of defamation penal sanctions are only permitted exceptionally, when they are essential to ensure public order. This means that the very desire to protect the reputation of the slandered individual – although it is obvious that the honor and good name of the person wrongly slandered needs to the protected – cannot justify the use of penal instruments in such cases. This shows that only civil liability for violating personal rights should serve as protection in such as situation.
The open letter of the HFHR
In an open letter of 5 November 2007, addressed to Sejm [Lower House of the Polish Parliament], the Board of the HFHR emphasized that “the existence of regulations that make it possible to sentence someone for benefiting from his/her freedom of speech is very damaging to public debate. The threat of penal liability is sure to cool down the media’s eagerness to bring up topics that are controversial, but nevertheless important for public interest. Therefore, it limits not only freedom of the press, but also the citizens’ right to information about public life, which is the foundation of the democratic society.”
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