How to complain if you believe that you have been a victim of defamation?
If you believe that defamatory statements have been made public about you, there are several ways that you can protect your rights:
Complaint to the media
If the facts or opinions that you believe are defamatory are published in the press or through electronic media, you have a right to ask that media to retract the untrue statements of fact or publish an apology for the defamatory opinion within six months from the date of publication. In your complaint to the media, you should indicate which facts or information you consider defamatory, as well as the date and place of publication.
The editor of the media has to assess your complaint within seven days of the date he/she received it. If he/she agrees to retract the untrue facts or apologize for the defamatory opinions, it should be done in the same way that the information was published.
example If the information was initially printed on the first page of a newspaper in bold capital letters, the retraction should be published in the same typestyle and on the same page as it was originally printed.
Civil claim
You may bring a civil claim to the court against the author and disseminator of the defamatory expressions. You can also bring this claim if you have already asked the relevant media to retract the information that you believe is defamatory, but the editor has refused to do so.
It is also possible to file a civil claim where the defamatory expressions were not published in the media, but expressed in front of a considerable audience or otherwise distributed.
The civil remedies which you can claim in a court may include one, or a combination, of the following measures:
- request for an apology for the defamatory opinions
- request for the retraction of the untrue statements
- a claim for monetary compensation
If you are asking for compensation, you should indicate to the court why you are asking for that amount specifically.
Criminal proceedings
In exceptional cases, you can request the police to initiate criminal proceedings for libel against the author or disseminator of defamatory expressions. The police can only open a criminal case for defamatory expressions that are:
- made deliberately
- contain false statements of fact
- expressed in public or made public through the press or other media
Appeal
If the police reject your request to initiate criminal proceedings and you consider that this decision was not well-reasoned, you can appeal it to the supervising prosecutor in your case. You must submit the appeal within 10 days of the date you received the decision. The procedure and time-limits for the appeal must be indicated in the decision.
Additional civil claim
If the police initiate a criminal case and indict the accused, you may claim the monetary compensation from the accused during the criminal proceedings. However, if your claim for monetary compensation is not fully satisfied within the criminal proceedings, you may bring a separate civil claim.