Liability for defamation of an official and at work

Currently, for reasons unknown to many, slander in all its forms and manifestations has become very popular. Defamation in the workplace is no exception. The slanderer’s motives are by no means the kindest, so you should understand that if you have become a victim of the dissemination of false information, you should not take it lightly, since the consequences of these actions can be very serious. For example, this information may reach management, which may lead to a request to write a letter of resignation of one's own free will. A separate chapter is the dissemination of false information to officials. It is these two components that will be discussed in this article.

Defamation of an official is a separate type of crime.

Compensation for moral damage

But in addition to the punishment provided for by law, compensation for causing moral damage can also be demanded from the offender. To do this, you must file a claim in the magistrate’s court, and send the main statement to the police department where the slander was distributed. The amount of moral damages for libel is determined by the plaintiff himself and is indicated in a separate statement from the libel.

In fact, 80% out of 100% of the time, the plaintiff who is able to correctly and accurately draw up an appeal will be able to achieve a positive result and recover moral damages for defamation. In a lawsuit, the defamed person must provide maximum evidence about the harm caused to his health, psyche or damage to his reputation, and irrefutable facts that could confirm this have yet to be collected. But the ideal option is the testimony at trial of at least 1 person who could confirm the facts you presented. The more arguments you collect, the higher your likelihood of success.

Face-BOOM!

Recently, one young actress, who became famous after the series “Chicky,” complained that bullying on the Internet sometimes brings her to tears.

“Sometimes panic attacks happen. I'm not entirely sure it's them, but this hasn't happened before. And the feeling that I'm doing everything wrong. I'm surprised it hurts me. It seemed to me that I was stronger. There are just so many of them. Why do they write like that?!” — Varvara Shmykova said in one of her interviews.

Not long before, Stasya Miloslavskaya, who played one of the main roles in the film “Streltsov,” admitted that she was tired of bullying on the Internet. And Kristina Asmus was attacked after she admitted that she had contracted the coronavirus. Like, isn't all this PR?

But today it’s not just actresses who have to cry. These days, you don't have to be rich and famous to find yourself under fire from haters - a special breed of Internet users who spill hot venom in their comments.

Anyone can get their moment of offensive fame, and the reason can be anything. For example, a fitness trainer girl had a disagreement with a taxi driver in the capital, she screamed and said a lot of ugly words, it’s true. But what the agitated online public later gave her was a hundred times worse.

The story seemed to end well: the fitness trainer withstood everything, everything seemed to have calmed down. But there are known cases when packs of anonymous scoundrels drove people to suicide. Is there protection from this scourge?

These days, you don't have to be rich and famous to find yourself under fire from haters - a special breed of Internet users who spill venom in the comments.

Often victims of persecution throw up their hands: how to bring slanderers to justice when they are unknown? But now you can not be sad, but act. The Council of the Moscow Bar Association has approved an approximate algorithm for the actions of lawyers to remove information that discredits honor, dignity and business reputation.

The legal mechanism was developed by a member of the chamber’s council, lawyer Maxim Ustinyuk.

“The above-mentioned algorithm was developed for the professional community of lawyers, but it can be used by any person who believes that information discrediting his honor, dignity and business reputation is posted on the Internet,” emphasizes Maxim Ustinyuk.

Today, all kinds of “black lists”, ratings and negative reviews are popular on the Internet. Such lists are also compiled for lawyers.

“At the same time, personal data of lawyers and their images are being distributed on the Internet, although they did not give consent to such distribution, and the lawyers did not independently distribute their personal data on the Internet,” says Maxim Ustinyuk.

Again, the problem cannot be called exclusively a lawyer’s one. We are all at risk today. If one of us had to become a “shameful star” on the Internet, the expert advises turning to specialists.

“A lawyer who is an independent professional legal adviser can independently use the proposed algorithm and protect his rights, while a citizen who does not have special skills in judicial practice may encounter difficulties. In this case, it would be right to seek help from a specialist in this field,” he says.

Both individuals and legal entities have the right to apply to a court of general jurisdiction to protect their rights.

“If it is impossible to identify the person who disseminated information discrediting the honor, dignity and business reputation of a citizen, the citizen in respect of whom such information was disseminated has the right to apply to the court to declare the disseminated information untrue,” says a member of the Bar Council Chambers of Moscow Maxim Ustinyuk.

The order of the proposed actions consists of several stages. First of all, you should try to determine the owner of the site on the Internet; this can be done on the site https://www.nic.ru/whois/.

According to the law, information provided by the Whois service is publicly available information posted on the Internet in the form of open data, which can be used by any person at their discretion. So there is no need to send an official request to the court and receive a response to it; it will be enough to take a screenshot of the corresponding website page.

If the owner of the site cannot be determined, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications should be involved as a third party.

If the owner of the site and his location are known, then the claim in the general manner is brought against this person, who will be the defendant. It does not matter whether the defendant is located in the Russian Federation or abroad: the claim is filed in the Russian court at the plaintiff’s place of residence.

Before going to court, it is necessary to collect evidence to confirm the fact that information discrediting honor, dignity or business reputation has been disseminated on the Internet. To do this, you can contact a notary, who will legally record the facts.

You must also contact Yandex with a request to remove false, irrelevant information about the citizen. At the same time, through the feedback form, the site that posted the information is asked to send an official letter demanding that the text that discredits honor, dignity or business reputation be removed, as well as provide official information about the author of the review.

If necessary, you should contact a specialist with a request to conduct a linguistic study regarding the information presented on the website on the Internet. After completing these actions and collecting the evidence base, you can apply to a court of general jurisdiction with an application to recognize the published information as untrue, discrediting honor and dignity or business reputation.

Through the feedback form on the site that posted the offensive comment, you can send an official letter demanding that the text be removed

“Problems of protecting honor and dignity are becoming especially relevant in our information age. An analysis of practice shows that during the period of self-isolation the number of information disputes increases. The professional community is interested in creating reliable legal mechanisms to protect individuals from slander and bullying in the electronic space. Of course, the prepared algorithms deserve careful study and testing in practice,” says Vladimir Gruzdev, Chairman of the Board of the Russian Lawyers’ Association.

Through the court, you can obtain an official refutation of information, payment of compensation, and removal of information. However, according to experts, a number of problems require legislative regulation.

Assignment of compensation amount

A claim for defamation and compensation for moral damage are 2 statements that will be considered in one trial. Do not be afraid to declare a larger amount of monetary compensation than you think at first glance, since moral damages for libel in judicial practice have tended to decrease during the course of the proceedings.

The court will carefully consider and assess the severity of the suffering caused and ultimately assign a fair amount of compensation, often it is much less than the amount claimed by the plaintiff. To get the maximum amount of the required compensation, it is recommended to seek qualified legal assistance. In this case, you are guaranteed the outcome of the case with the maximum payment, which can pay for the services of a lawyer and cover costs along with damages.

Moral damage and its differences from slander

Slander and the publication of defamatory information will certainly harm the reputation of the person to whom the slander was directed - this is the initial negative factor. Moral damage is the resulting consequences that can be measured in monetary terms. Therefore, the difference between moral damage and slander lies in the payment of compensation in favor of the plaintiff in the amount established by the court decision.

If libel is punishable in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, then compensation is initially assigned by the applicant. The fullness of its payment depends on how broadly the plaintiff can form an evidence base for his damages. But the final amount will still be determined by the court. Punishment for slander is not always accompanied by a request for compensation for moral damage, so 1 or 2 applications are filed with the police.

Definition of the term

Slander is information that is false, aimed at destroying a person’s reputation, violating honor and dignity. It can be spread by one person or by several people.

Legislation

Citizens engaged in spreading slander are subject to punishment in accordance with Art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

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Article 128.1. Libel - Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of June 13, 1996

Information considered illegal must have the following characteristics:

• to be false;
• be transmitted to people;
• be specific.

Attention: Statements of an uncertain nature are not grounds for initiating a criminal case.
Special punishment awaits those who publicly slander government officials, according to Art. 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

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Article 319. Insulting a representative of authority - Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of June 13, 1996

There is no exact list of data that falls under the criteria of criminal liability in the legislation.

The Downside of Slander

Often in judicial practice there are situations when a libel claim is a direct slander. That is, the applicant wants to remove suspicion from himself and thereby preserve his reputation; the goal of profit may also be pursued. But, in this case, no one can cancel the presumption of innocence and the plaintiff will have to prove irrefutable facts that you really slandered him. If all the evidence was fabricated and untrue, but the court made a decision not in your favor, you have the right to appeal to higher courts.

Of course, you can’t do this without the help of a good lawyer. You will not only have to collect facts that contradict the evidence of your plaintiff, but also provide information that the plaintiff intentionally wanted to harm you. If the original court decided to compensate the applicant for moral damages, then in appealing this decision you have the right to demand recovery of moral damages from justified slander in the form of:

1. compensation awarded for defamation in favor of the original plaintiff;
2. legal expenses paid;
3. attorney's fees;
4. own moral damage.

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