Personal insult is the purposeful humiliation of the dignity and honor of another citizen in good faith or in writing. Insults come in many different forms, and not all of them are punishable.
The difficulty in defining insult as an offense is that each citizen has his own idea of what humiliates him and what does not. Some may not be affected by even a direct insult in a rude form, while others will take the offender to court for one comradely barb. Therefore, the court often considers only targeted humiliation, formulated in rude form, to be an insult.
Another important factor is who exactly insulted the victim. Thus, the insult of one person by another court is considered only if there is serious evidence and a sufficiently gross form of the insult itself. At the same time, insulting a citizen by a legal entity or official is considered much more often and much more carefully. As a result, legal entities are more likely to be found guilty and pay significantly larger fines.
Do not confuse two concepts such as slander and insult - there is a huge difference between them. Libel is a criminal offense, the purpose of which is the intentional communication of false information with the aim of harming the reputation of the defamed person. Insult implies the expression of a personal opinion that does not cause any material harm and does not impose any liability or burden.
How to confirm the fact of insult?
The most important question is how to prove that you were insulted. Doing this in practice is quite difficult. Need to:
- Provide testimony
- Present an audio or video recording of the insult
- Find other evidence
- Provide materials (if the insult was public)
Attention
In practice, collecting such evidence is an extremely complex process, and even the testimony of witnesses cannot guarantee that the perpetrator will be brought to justice.
Have you become a victim of public insult on a social network – what to do?
It is quite easy to initiate a criminal case for insult to personality, but it is very difficult to win it. The main problem is finding evidence of humiliation.
The first thing you should do is file a statement with the police about the fact that this crime has been committed. Then you must present all the evidence and witnesses to the crime. If you have been insulted on a social network, then you need to provide full information about the offender (you cannot write a statement, for example, against a user with the nickname “Makovka”, since your full name, year of birth, address of residence must be indicated), provide witnesses who will confirm that a specific user insulted you at a specific time.
After this, the magistrate court will begin proceedings in your case and, if the parties do not reconcile, may impose a sentence on the accused.
Is it a criminal offense?
Until 2012, there were several articles considering insult as a criminal offense. For this purpose, Article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was provided. Now insult has been reclassified as an administrative offense, punishable only by a fine. However, there are two exceptions - insulting a military man and insulting a government official; they will be discussed in detail below.
It is worth noting the fact that insult is often considered in conjunction with a threat to health and life. At the same time, the threat is a very serious criminal violation that requires detailed investigation. It is considered under Article No. 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Threat of murder or infliction of grievous bodily harm” as a full-fledged crime.
Insulting a person in judicial practice
Every year thousands of people are tried under this article. Previously, there was a criminal article for insult, but today it has been abolished.
Examples from judicial practice
The magistrate of the precinct No. at <address> of the Republic of Kalmykia on June 22, 2011 found the citizen guilty of an offense and punished with a fine of 1,000 rubles.
The Uisky District Court on August 12, 2013 found E.P. Vostrikov guilty of an administrative offense under Part 1 of Art. 5. 61 and he was given an administrative penalty of a fine of 2,000 rubles. The citizen, not agreeing with this decision of the magistrate, further appealed it.
Novocheboksarsk City Court (Chuvashia). By a judge’s decision dated 02.02.2015, he found the citizen of the Russian Federation guilty of an administrative offense, part 1 of Art. 5. 61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and sentenced her to a fine of <data taken> rubles.
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Article No. 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation “Insult”. What does it say?
Article number 5.61 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses contains an explanation of such an offense as personal insult. It is quite short, there are only three parts.
Part one, personal insult in an indecent form. In other words, a common insult to the personality of another person, verbally or in writing, intended to damage his reputation or humiliate him. There is a fine for insulting a person. An ordinary citizen will pay from 1 to 3 thousand rubles, an official will be required to pay from 10 to 30 thousand, and any legal entity will have to pay a fine in the amount of 50 to 100 thousand rubles.
Part two, personal insult in public or on a mass scale. This part refers to insulting a person in the media, public speaking to citizens of any kind, or insulting a person through a work of art. The “mass character” of this personal insult significantly increases the severity of the offense, which is noticeably reflected in the fines: an ordinary citizen will be forced to pay 3–5 thousand rubles, an organization or other legal entity. a person – from 100 to 500 thousand, and an official – from 30 to 50 thousand.
Part Three, Purposeful Rejection of Measures to Prevent Personal Offense. It implies that the perpetrator knew that the person of a third party was being insulted, but did not interfere with this in any way. It should be noted that only a legal entity or an official can be accused under this part of Article No. 5.61 on insult to personality. This offense is punishable by a fine of 10–30 thousand rubles for an official or 30–50 thousand for a legal entity or organization.
Article in the Civil Code
In addition, in accordance with Article 150 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, dignity and a good name are intangible benefits that belong to all citizens from birth. This gives you grounds to file a claim in court and seek compensation for moral damages. It is important to understand that an article for insulting a person will allow you to receive monetary compensation as compensation for moral damage.
Article 152
A citizen of the Russian Federation has the right to demand in court a refutation of information discrediting his dignity if the person who disseminated this information cannot prove that it is true. The refutation must be made in the same way as information about the citizen was disseminated.
The person in respect of whom the specified information was disseminated may demand, along with a refutation, the publication of his response. If information expressed that discredits honor and reputation is contained in a document coming from an organization, this document is subject to replacement or revocation.
In cases where information discrediting one’s dignity and reputation has become widely known, the offended person has the right to demand the removal of this information, or the prohibition of further dissemination of false information by confiscating all material media containing such information, if it is impossible to remove the defamatory information without destroying these copies .
Insulting a government official
The first important exception is that personal insult is a criminal offense. It is discussed in Article 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Insult can be considered a criminal offense only if three conditions are met:
- It was public (that is, in front of witnesses, in a public speech or in the media);
- The victim was insulted while performing his duties;
- The insult concerned the professional activities of the victim.
Important
Only in these cases the violation is considered a crime. Otherwise, it will be considered by the court as an ordinary insult or insult in public.
As with any crime, there is a penalty for insulting a government official. Possible types:
- Fine up to 40,000 rubles ;
- A fine in the amount of the offender's earnings for three months ;
- Compulsory work for 360 hours ;
- A year of correctional labor.
The punishment is determined by the court depending on the severity of the violation.
Article 130. Repealed
Resolution of the ECHR dated November 22, 2016 11. On December 9, 2003, V., as a private prosecution, initiated criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the Magistrate’s Court of Judicial District No. 27 of the Frunzensky District of Vladivostok (hereinafter referred to as the Magistrate’s Court ). He argued that the article “Candidates need to be known from the inside!” and the photograph published in No. 47 of Arsenyevskie News from November 20 to 26, 2003, were highly offensive, their purpose was to humiliate his reputation and human dignity, and they attributed negative personal qualities to him in an indecent, cynical and offensive manner manner. He indicated, in particular, that there was no doubt that the article concerned him, since the character of Vasilinka “was herself a lawyer” and she had “extensive experience as a prosecutor.” V. further alleged that the said article and comments about the list of candidates were written using slang expressions that portrayed him as an immoral and corrupt “werewolf prostitute”, thus clearly indicating an intention to insult and humiliate him. He also complained that the image accompanying the article was also offensive in nature, violating established rules of conduct and norms of public morality.
ECtHR ruling dated 05/02/2017
22. On April 24, 2008, the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Komi Republic 1 issued a repeated refusal to initiate criminal proceedings against police officers and investigator N., establishing in accordance with paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure that none of the crimes provided for in the articles 130, 286 and 302 of the Criminal Code (insult, abuse of power and coercion to testify, respectively), were not present in their actions. It was noted that, according to information received from the Syktyvdinsky district department of internal affairs, video surveillance recordings of the duty room and the administrative detention cell for the period from August 15 to 16, 2007 were not preserved. Such recordings were typically kept for three days and then automatically deleted. It was concluded that the applicant had self-inflicted the injuries at the police station in order to avoid criminal liability for the crime he had committed.
Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated November 20, 2019 N 109-P19
The same resolution refused to initiate a criminal case against employees of the Department of Internal Affairs in the Novotoryalsky district of the Republic of Mari El V. and S., based on a report of their use of violence against L., refused to initiate a criminal case against R.A. Lebedev. and other persons upon notification of their uttering threats of violence, obscene insulting expressions addressed to employees of the Department of Internal Affairs in the Novotoryalsky district of the Republic of Mari El, who are in the performance of official duties, under Art. 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on the basis of clause 2, part 1, art. 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation for the absence of corpus delicti in their actions, under Part 1 of Art. 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - on the basis of clause 5, part 1, art. 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation due to the absence of a complaint from the victim.
Determination of the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated June 26, 2018 N 49-КГ18-15
As follows from the explanations contained in paragraph six of paragraph 9 of the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated February 24, 2005 No. 3 “On judicial practice in cases of protecting the honor and dignity of citizens, as well as the business reputation of citizens and legal entities,” on the defendant who made a statement in an offensive form, degrading the honor, dignity or business reputation of the plaintiff, may be required to compensate for moral damage caused to the plaintiff by the insult (Article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Articles 150, 151 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated May 31, 2017 N 75-P17
convicted under Part 5 of Art. , part 2 art. 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to a fine of 50,000 rubles; Andreevskaya N.B. ..., previously unconvicted, convicted under Part 2 of Art. 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to a fine of 10,000 rubles.
Insult to a military man
The second very interesting example of an insult that is not an administrative violation is an insult to a military man. This type of offense has two features:
- Both the accuser and the accused must be active military personnel;
- The insult must be inflicted while the military man was performing his duties and must be connected with them.
Info
In this case, neither the rank of the insulted and the insulter, nor the publicity of the insult itself matters. Punishment can include various disciplinary fines and other sanctions applied in the military sphere.
What words are considered by law to be an insult?
Judicial practice tells us that in matters regarding personal insults, the most difficult moment is not even proof of what was done, but the process of distinguishing one situation from another. People are built differently and may not react to certain emotions in their direction in the same way. For one, the usual raising of one’s voice already means swearing, while for another, an outright verbal altercation is commonplace.
This is also important to know:
Types of liability for vandalism and its difference from hooliganism
That is why you should know the exact interpretation of the concept of insult by the letter of the law and be able to distinguish one conflict from another in time.
Based on Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, it can be said that, according to the law, words spoken by a person in relation to another person will be considered an insult only if the speech contains:
- Direct obscene language towards a person.
- Personal comparison of a person with someone else or using swear words in speech.
- Directed obscene expressions and other words with the aim of belittling the moral and ethical principles of a person.
Let's consider a simple example of 2 cases of neighbors talking:
- “Ivanov, your son just annoyed me. Not only does he walk around here with his friends and make noise like a seal, but yesterday he hit me right in the glass of the balcony with a ball. Is there something you can’t explain to him normally, or does he simply not want to understand normal things?”
- “Ivanov, your family is just a nightmare. You are just stupid and narrow-minded people, and you, as the leader of this gang, are the stupidest among them. Not only do I ask you not to touch the entrance and not litter it, but you also strained your stupid brain to persuade your son to persuade me to break the glass with a ball.”
In the first case, there is a conversation in a raised voice and using emotional phrases. However, there were no insults addressed to anyone here, and therefore this case cannot be considered an insult.
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The second option is more interesting. There are obvious insults to the person, comparisons aimed at belittling morale and dignity. Dialogues of this format can be safely interpreted as violating the law and administrative liability is provided for them.
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This is also important to know:
Types of liability for vandalism and its difference from hooliganism
How to sue for libel?
To punish the perpetrators, you need to correctly assess the crime. To do this, it is important to know its distinctive features. Let's look at an example.
The object of the crime is the human right to protection of dignity, honor and reputation. The victim can only be an individual, including a deceased person. In the latter case, it is possible to initiate a case at the request of his relatives.
The article for libel implies that the person disseminates false information and knows that it does not correspond to the real state of affairs, and also understands what consequences his actions may lead to.
Note!
The crime is considered completed when the information is made public. It does not matter whether they caused harm to the victim or not.
Dissemination of information may be:
- publication on the Internet, in print;
- broadcast on radio, TV;
- presentation in characteristics of a citizen, applications addressed to an official;
- communication to someone in any form, including verbally.
If the attacker confidentially provided information and made sure that others did not find out about it, such actions do not constitute distribution.
Reports that a citizen:
- broke the law;
- deceived someone;
- behaved unethically;
- conducts business in bad faith;
- violates ethics and business customs.
It is important to distinguish between statements of fact and value judgments made by individuals. In the second case there will be no sanction.
Punishment under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for libel and slander can be imposed from the age of 16. To qualify a crime under this standard, the direct intent of the perpetrator is necessary. If he was simply mistaken about the information he disseminated, there is no liability.
There will be no punishment under the article for libel and insult to personality if a citizen contacted the police with a report of an impending crime, which was ultimately not confirmed. In this case, the person did not intend to harm a specific person.
False denunciation
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has articles providing for punishment for types of slander. One of them is a false denunciation. The difference is that a citizen not only spreads false information about someone, but also reports it to the police. He faces one of the following sanctions:
- fine up to 120 thousand rubles;
- compulsory work up to 480 hours;
- correctional, forced labor or a term of up to 2 years;
- arrest for up to six months.
If a slanderer accuses an innocent person of committing a serious or especially serious crime, the amount of the fine may increase to 300 thousand rubles. The court also has the right to impose forced labor or imprisonment for up to 3 years.
If a criminal collects false evidence of guilt, he can go to jail for 6 years.
Spreading false rumors
Despite the relaxation of the law, there are pitfalls here. If the offender not only insulted the person with words unpleasant to the personality and dignity of a person, but also spread false rumors, then he falls under Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
If the victim is a representative of the authorities, then criminal liability, as mentioned above, also threatens for causing offense. As for libel, here the criminal code protects all citizens of our country, regardless of the field of activity; there is a separate article for libel.
By the way, if you have become a victim of scammers, find out what article is provided for fraud?
Liability for libel and slander
Under the article for libel and insult to personality, you can receive one of the following sanctions:
- fine up to 500 thousand rubles;
- compulsory work up to 160 hours.
Public insult in the form of slander is punishable by a fine of up to 1 million rubles. or compulsory work up to 240 hours.
The article for libel and slander also establishes punishment for using one’s official position to disseminate false information. The fine can increase to 2 million rubles, and the period of work can be up to 320 hours.
If we are talking about accusations of having a dangerous disease or committing a crime against sexual freedom, the slanderer can receive a fine of up to 3 million rubles. or work up to 400 hours.
Also, a criminal can accuse a citizen of committing a serious or especially serious crime. In this case, liability for libel is provided for in Part 5 of Art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The fine may amount to 5 million rubles, and the period of compulsory work may be up to 480 hours.
