Insult and defamation: Judgment No. 17563 of 2023
In Judgment No. 17563, decided on March 23 and filed on April 27, 2023, the Court of Cassation examined an offensive writing delivered to the offended parties and other guests at a gathering which its author did not attend.
The author’s presence and the opportunity to reply
The headnote distinguishes insult, which has been decriminalized, from defamation, which remains a criminal offense. The form of insult aggravated by the presence of multiple people requires the offended party, third parties and the offender to be simultaneously present, physically or virtually. In the case described, direct dialogue between the author and the recipients was unavailable: the Court upheld the classification as defamation.
Virtual communications
Modern communications also require consideration of the participants’ simultaneous presence and the opportunity for direct dialogue and reply. The decision does not support treating a delay in replying, by itself, as an automatic test that makes any message defamatory: the actual circumstances of the communication matter.
