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. 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. In case that the statements are published on a radio or television you have another way to protect your rights. According to the Law on the Radio and Television you have the right to reply. You can ask the media that published the defamatory statement to air your reply. The deadline for doing so is 7 days since the defamatory statement was published. You could also complain to the National Council for Journalism Ethics.
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. 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
Defamatory expressions can be sanctioned in criminal proceedings too, although most often they are dealt with in civil proceedings. Still, if you so decide, you can file a complaint and request the court to initiate criminal proceedings against the author or disseminator of defamatory expressions. The court will sanction the author or disseminator of the defamatory expressions only if they are:
- made deliberately
- contain false statements of fact
- expressed in front of at least one other person
Appeal
If the court refuses to establish that you were a victim of defamatory expressions and sanction the author or disseminator and you consider that this decision was not well-reasoned, you can appeal it to the upper court. The procedure and time-limits for the appeal must be indicated in the decision of the first court.
Additional civil claim
In the criminal proceedings before the court you may also claim monetary compensation from the accused apart from the sanction that the court would, if agrees with you, impose on the author or disseminator. Alternatively, you can file a civil claim separately from this criminal proceedings - to civil court, and ask for monetary compensation.