Defamation (Germany)
In German criminal law , defamation means that someone makes defamatory claims about a person , even though he knows that the claims are untrue. The criminal provision is according to Section 187 of the Criminal Code :
Legal text:
Anyone who, against his better judgment, asserts or disseminates an untrue fact in relation to another, which is likely to make the same thing contemptible or disparaging in public opinion or jeopardizing his / her credit , is sentenced to imprisonment for up to two years or a fine and, if the act is committed committed publicly, in a meeting or by distributing writings (Section 11 Paragraph 3), punishable by imprisonment of up to five years or a fine.
It is required that a notice be made a fact. That is every circumstance open to evidence . The opposite of a factual assertion is the value judgment . The asserted fact must be defamatory . However, there need not have been any specific contempt or degradation in public. The fact must relate to another, that is, the recipient of the utterance and the person who has been degraded must not be the same person.
The fact must be untrue; In other words , it must be proven in court that the opposite of the claim is true (different in the case of defamation : “not ... demonstrably true”). A conviction under the law often fails because of this. If the alleged fact is the commission of the offense by someone else, the evidence is to be regarded as having been provided if the alleged perpetrator has been legally acquitted, Section 190 . However, this only applies to an acquittal; A suspension of the proceedings , also according to § 170 Abs. 2 StPO, is not enough.
The communication must be done by "claiming" or "spreading". Both variants describe a communication behavior. Simply changing a situation without a communicating person becoming recognizable (fictional evidence) is not enough. For example, bringing a corpse into the enemy's basement to suspect manslaughter is not slander. "Claim" is understood to mean that the fact is presented as true to the best of one's knowledge. For “spreading” it is sufficient that the fact is presented as an object of foreign knowledge, and it is even given if the rumor passed on is presented as implausible.
Defamation requires intent , which must also extend to untruth, thus creating a second major hurdle on the way to conviction. In addition, it is only pursued upon application ( Section 194 ), which the person concerned usually has to submit ( Section 77 ).
In addition to defamation in the narrower sense, jeopardizing credit is also made a criminal offense. For this purpose, a fact that jeopardizes credit must be intentionally asserted or disseminated.
The norm of defamation takes a back seat to defamation by way of legal competition. If the factual disclosure also contains a further deliberate degradation of the listening victim - for example in the form of the information content “I can do this with you” - then the insult therein is in fact unity to be slanderous. Otherwise there is legal competition in this constellation as well.
It should be noted that in individual cases the act may be justified under Section 193 StGB - safeguarding legitimate interests, for example if the assertion of good faith was made in the course of a lawsuit or a criminal complaint . According to the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court, however, freedom of expression can not justify the safeguarding of legitimate interests if the allegations are deliberately or proven to be false.
System of defamation offenses
Defamation
- towards the injured person: insult ( § 185 StGB )
- towards a third party
- in the case of defamation in the form of a value judgment : insult (§ 185 StGB)
- in the case of defamation in the form of a factual assertion : defamation ( § 186 StGB)
- in relation to a deceased: disparagement of the memory of the deceased ( § 189 StGB)
- in relation to the state: denigration of the state and its symbols ( § 90a StGB)
