Slander - what is it? Law on libel and insult

Defamation is the spreading of false information that disgraces another person and damages his or her reputation. Those who like to talk or lie about other people can be deprived of their freedom and go to prison. If a person slanderes another, he can be sent to prison or correctional labor for a year. A gossiper can also pay a fine of several times the minimum wage.

In printed form

False information can be spread not only orally, but also in written or printed form. Such actions are also qualified as slander. Article 129 of the Criminal Code provides criminal penalties for anonymous letters. Penalty is also provided for those who have previously been prosecuted and convicted on the same issue. Punishment threatens the offender with deprivation of liberty for up to three years. One form of punishment may be a fine reaching 120 minimum wages, or correctional labor for up to three years.

Qualified elements of the crime of “libel”

Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides in part 1 for the general elements of slander (so-called simple slander), which is expressed in the dissemination of knowingly false information that discredits the honor and dignity of another person or undermines his reputation.
For this act, the minimum punishment is provided - a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles, or in the amount of earnings or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to six months, or compulsory work for a period of up to 160 hours.

The remaining four parts of Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provide for qualified elements of slander, for which the punishment is more severe. In part 2 art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for public libel, i.e. when knowingly false information is disseminated:

- in public speaking, i.e. in front of a group of at least 5-6 people (at a rally, demonstration, other meeting when information can be conveyed to an indefinite number of people),

- in a publicly displayed work (this includes leaflets, printed handouts, wall newspapers, written or printed messages, graphic images, etc., if they are posted in publicly accessible places - on notice boards, stands, walls of institutions open to the public ),

- through the media (in large-circulation newspapers, magazines, brochures, books, radio, television and the Internet). This source is perhaps the most dangerous, since it provides the opportunity to disseminate information in the shortest possible time among a huge audience, numbering in thousands and even millions.

Punishment under Part 2 of Art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has been increased compared to the first part - a fine of up to 1 million rubles or in the amount of earnings or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to one year, or compulsory work for a period of up to 240 hours.

Part 3 Art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation specifically highlights slander using one’s official position. The increased public danger here is expressed in the fact that, taking into account the authority of the position held by the slanderer, the information he disseminates may have a much stronger resonance in society. Or the official position allows the slanderer to have free access to the media or other opportunities for publicly transmitting false information. This significantly aggravates the crime, so the penalties here are increased: a fine of up to 2 million rubles or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to two years, or compulsory work for a period of up to 320 hours.

In part 4 art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for qualified slander based on the content of the information disseminated - if information is disseminated about a person’s disease that is dangerous to others or about his commission of a crime of a sexual nature. The selection of such a composition is due to the particularly disgraceful nature of such accusations, which causes significant harm to the honor and dignity of a person. Punishment is established in the form of a fine of up to 3 million rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to three years, or compulsory work for a period of up to 400 hours.

The most serious crime is defamation of a person committing a grave or especially grave crime. This composition is included in Part 5 of Art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The highest limits of punishment are provided - a fine of up to 5 million rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to three years, or compulsory work for a period of up to 480 hours. In this case, slander should be distinguished from a deliberately false denunciation: with slander, the intent of the criminal is aimed primarily at humiliating the honor and dignity of a person, and with denunciation, at initiating a criminal case against the victim.

Libel in combination with other crimes

There is another form of crime, described in Article 129 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Slander, which goes along with serious crimes, is an aggravating circumstance. This form of offense is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years. In this case, the crime is considered especially dangerous because it is aimed at depriving a person of dignity and honor, and this is the inalienable personal right of every person.

Slander is the spreading of falsehoods that disgrace another person. The victims in this case are only individuals. This crime can also be committed against deceased persons or mentally ill persons who cannot be aware of the fact that they are being slandered due to their circumstances. Liability is caused by the fact that a person, while still alive or in a state of mental health, had a good reputation and assessment of people, and as a result of slander it can change for the worse. If their good name was damaged by certain fabrications, then the one who did this will be punished.

What will happen to the slanderer?

The Holy Scriptures in the book of Revelation show what will happen to the devil, whose name is the slanderer. “And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now is the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, because the accuser of our brethren is cast out, who slandered them before our God day and night” (Rev. 12:10). The fate of the main slanderer, Satan, is in the underworld.

We will all one day stand before God, and we will have to answer for our every action. So let's leave behind bad deeds in order to appear before God with pure hearts. Jesus commanded us to love one another as He loved us with His boundless love.

Elena Bessalova

It does not matter to whom the false information was conveyed

Any false information of a negative nature harms the person being gossiped about. Slander of the Criminal Code (Article No. 129) is considered as the transmission of false information about another person, even to one outsider. And it doesn’t matter whether this information will be further disseminated or not. It also does not matter who the person who received the false information was: a family member, an acquaintance of the victim, or a co-worker.

Such a crime is dangerous because the slanderer no longer has control over the story he told, and also cannot predict the results of his story. He cannot influence how to stop the spread of slander further, nor control the content. The malicious feelings of other people and idle curiosity can significantly expand the circle of participants and listeners.

It is impossible to predict in advance at what stage of life this lie will be revealed, and what the consequences will be for the slandered person. Slander is the destruction of someone else’s honor, and it doesn’t matter how many listeners there were and in what place it was said.

Why gossip should not be tolerated

Not all gossip is equally harmful, but some of it can hit a person very hard.

They tarnish the reputation

We perceive bad impressions much more acutely. Seppälä. What to Do When You're the Target of a Hurtful Office Rumor / Harvard Business Review than positive ones. This is largely why we usuallyM. Feinberg, R. Willer, M. Schultz. Gossip and Ostracism Promote Cooperation in Groups / Psychological Science We take information that portrays someone in an unsavory light seriously. This kind of warns us of potential danger.

The problem is that this information may be false, and negative biases are very difficult to overcome. Therefore, gossipers can greatly damage the reputation of their victim.

They ruin your life

A damaged reputation often leads to problems communicating with other people. So, because of gossip, the team can E. Seppälä. What to Do When You're the Target of a Hurtful Office Rumor / Harvard Business Review start ignoring or even bullying the person.

The victim of gossip canE. Martinescu, O. Janssen, B. A. Nijstad. Self-Evaluative and Other-Directed Emotional and Behavioral Responses to Gossip About the Self / Frontiers in Psychology experience serious mental health problems. So, some people’s self-esteem drops, depression appears, and some even think about suicide.

They can instill a false sense of guilt

Some people start looking for E. Martinescu, O. Janssen, B. A. Nijstad. Self‑Evaluative and Other‑Directed Emotional and Behavioral Responses to Gossip About the Self / Frontiers in Psychology the reason for the appearance of gossip in oneself. They try to understand what they did to the offenders or where they stumbled, giving them a reason to gloat. Thus, a person seems to project false information onto himself in such a way that he himself begins to believe in the speculation circulating about him. Because of this, he may blame himself for something that does not exist.

Conversation in front of the victim or behind his back?

A lie can be voiced both to a group of people and to one person. In this case, information is transmitted that is known to be untrue. Information is transmitted that a person participated in immoral acts or committed illegal acts. All this information is aimed at disgracing a person. It does not matter whether the victim was present at the moment when the slander was uttered. Article 129 provides that even if a lie was voiced in front of a person, punishment will still follow.

There is one peculiarity - if false information was expressed to the victim directly, without witnesses or outsiders, in this case the speaker may be accused of causing insult.

○ Libel under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Over the past couple of years, slander managed to leave the block of articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, spent some time as an administrative offense in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation and returned back to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation under the number of article 128.1.

Currently, according to the provisions of this article, libel is understood as the dissemination of information discrediting the honor and dignity, as well as the reputation of a citizen, which the distributor knows to be false .

To qualify an act as “Slander”, it is the deliberate falsity of information that is important. The person distributing them must know and realize that this information is false, and at the same time significantly “spoil” the reputation of the person in respect of whom it is disseminated.

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Forms of dissemination of false information

False information, which is regarded by Article 129 of the Criminal Code as slander, can be transmitted to third parties in various forms:

• Dissemination of information orally.
• Transmission of materials in writing.
• Anonymous statements, including in print media.
• Statements on radio and television.

From the moment the false information was conveyed to a second person, the crime is considered committed, even if the victim does not yet know anything about it.

The consequences of slander cannot be corrected

Slander never goes unnoticed. If you touch the water, circles will go through it. At first they are very small, but then they will become larger. The spread of these circles cannot be stopped. Slander has the same consequences. Let's see these consequences in the following story.

One man walked around a small village, cursing his neighbor and spreading false, evil rumors about him. But after a while he felt repentance and, coming to his neighbor, asked for forgiveness. He said that he was ready to do anything to atone for his sin. The neighbor then suggested that he take a pillow from home, rip it open and let the feathers fly into the wind. The request was rather strange, but it was not difficult to fulfill.

Having done as he was told, the man returned and reported this to his neighbor.

“Now,” said the neighbor, “go and collect all the feathers.” Although your repentance, as well as your desire to correct the harm caused, is sincere, it is as impossible to repair the damage caused by your words as to collect feathers scattered in the wind.

Content of slander

People find it unpleasant when people gossip about them behind their backs or talk about them in their absence. Slander is a fiction, a fabrication. The information contains a false fact or false circumstance. It can be direct, for example, that a certain person received a bribe. But it can also be indirect. There is no direct indication of a vicious action here, but a hint is given to it, for example, that a person leads a depraved lifestyle, without specifying specific situations. Or that the woman fell ill with a bad disease, but no details are given under what circumstances this happened. All these actions are regarded as slander. Article 129 of the Criminal Code considers such an act as unlawful actions towards another person.

Statements of a defamatory nature, but not containing a false fact, do not constitute slander, but under certain signs they can serve as a basis for accusing them of insult. If a person is called a thief or a scoundrel, then this is an insult, but without specific facts it cannot be qualified as slander. If certain facts or even indirect ones are not stated, then this will not count towards the definition of libel. Article 129 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not stipulate punishment for insult.

How did slander come about?

The father of slander is the devil. He was created as an angel, but, having become proud and wanting to be equal to God, he was cast down to earth, becoming after the fall the “prince of darkness,” “father of lies,” “murderer” (John 8:44) - the leader of the rebellion against God.

From the Hebrew language the word “devil” is literally translated as “adversary, slanderer.” When a person slanderes, he is doing what the devil usually does. It is written in the Bible that the devil himself constantly slanderes people before God.

The Bible tells how Satan slandered Job before the Lord by questioning the man's piety. The devil invited the Lord to test the righteous Job. God allowed suffering in Job’s life, and Satan’s slander was not confirmed: Job withstood the test, thereby proving his loyalty and love for God.

The future doesn't count

When the components of a crime are considered, only facts that could relate to the past or present are taken into account. Slander cannot involve assumptions about what will happen in the future.

Slander is the spreading of false information that is not true. If true information is conveyed, it does not contain libel, even if it disgraces a person. And also, that false information will not fall under the article if the slanderer did not know that it was false, although it disgraced the victim.

There are cases when cases on charges of libel were suspended because it was proven and established that the facts were true and there were no fabrications. And according to the Criminal Code, slander presupposes that it must contain false information.

Fabrications involve information that discredits a person’s good name and spoils his reputation. Whether this information disgraces a person or not is considered in each individual case, and this is done in court. This category includes any facts that detract from the honor of a citizen in society and his dignity. It is enough that the reputation will be damaged even in the eyes of one person, and not of society.

Slander - how to respond to it as a Christian?

Slander - how to respond to it as a Christian?

Saint John Chrysostom suffered from slander like no one else. He suffered disgrace and exile, accused by Empress Eudoxia at the libel of the Patriarch of Alexandria Theophilus himself, who wanted to install his own man in the episcopal see. To those who heard an unverified rumor or information defaming someone, St. John said: “Never accept slander against your neighbor, but stop the slanderer with these words: “Leave it, brother, every day I sin even more serious sins, how can we condemn others?" The saint even suggested extreme measures: “Let us drive away the slanderer, so that, by taking part in the evil of others, we do not cause our own destruction.” But the Monk Ephraim the Syrian believed that “if the enemy disposes to slander, we will protect ourselves by silence.”

How to escape from slander

Many holy fathers promise a reward for enduring slander. “Remember that the one who hears slander about himself not only does not suffer harm, but will also receive the greatest reward,” says John Chrysostom. But he also testifies that no matter how great the reward, it is not easy to endure slander: “Slander is hard, even if it is well rewarded. The wondrous Joseph and many others were subjected to it. And the Lord commands us to pray so as not to be tempted... And, moreover, the slander of proud and strong people is especially difficult, because untruth, based on strength, brings great harm.”

The saint advised his brothers in misfortune: “For many, what seems most unbearable than all deaths is when enemies spread bad rumors about them and bring suspicion upon them... If this is true, correct yourself; if it's a lie, laugh at it. If you are aware of what has been said, come to your senses; if you don’t realize it, ignore it; it’s better to say: have fun and rejoice, according to the word of the Lord (Matthew 5:11).”

Prayer can save you from many troubles and sorrows. Even in the case of slander, St. Maximus the Confessor suggests not to lose heart, but to pray: “As you pray for the one who has slandered, God will reveal to those who are tempted the truth about you.”

Bishop Theophan the Recluse suggests that slander be considered a redemptive medicine: “They slandered you... although you are innocent? We must patiently endure. And this will take the place of penance for what you consider yourself guilty of. Therefore, slander for you is the mercy of God. We must certainly reconcile with those who have slandered us, no matter how difficult it may be.”

Slander for benefit

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk gives examples of transforming slander into good and glory: “To those who love God... all things work together for good,” says the apostle (Rom. 8:28). For them, slander and slander are turned to their advantage by the grace of God. The chaste Joseph was thrown into prison by women's slander, but so he was elevated to high honor and saved the whole country from famine (Gen. and). Moses fled from Egypt from slanderous lips and was a stranger in the land of Midian (Exodus 2:15-22). But there he was honored to see a bush miraculously burning in the desert, and to hear God speaking to him from the bush (Ex. 3:2-7). A slanderous tongue made many slander to Saint David, but in this way he was encouraged to pray and composed many inspired psalms for the benefit of the Holy Church. Slander threw Daniel into a den to be devoured by lions, but innocence stopped the mouths of the beasts and glorified him more than before (Dan. 6: 16-28). ... The same judgments of God are still being carried out” (104. 860-861).

And Christ was slandered

Saint Tikhon notes that we are not the first to suffer untruth on Earth: “Christ Himself preceded us through reproach and humiliation, having committed no sin. How much and how cruelly the lips of the Pharisees blasphemed Him and what reproaches they threw at Him like poisonous arrows - the Holy Gospel testifies to this. It was not enough for them to say that He loved to eat and drink wine, that He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, a Samaritan, that He had a demon and was frantic, the One who sought the lost in every way, but they also called Him a liar, corrupting the people: “we have found , that He corrupts our people and forbids giving tribute to Caesar" (Luke 23:2), the One who taught them: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and the things that are God's to God" (Mark 12:17), Who by the power of His Divinity forbade and cast out demons. No one escaped slander and slander from them.

The children of this world have found something to blaspheme even in a blameless life; they have invented a lying tongue with which to defame the blameless. The prophet Moses, lawgiver, leader of Israel, friend and interlocutor of God, suffered reproach from the host of Korah and Abiron (Num. 16) and from the rest of his people. How many poisonous arrows were thrown at David, the holy king of Israel and the prophet of God, is evident from the psalm: “My enemies reproach me every day, and those who are angry with me curse me” (Ps. 101, et seq.). A lying tongue cast the prophet Daniel into a den of lions, as into a grave (Dan. 6:16). How the apostles suffered from the whole world, to whom they preached the mercy of God! Those who turned from delusion to truth, and from darkness to light, and from the kingdom of the devil to the Kingdom of God were called seducers, corrupters and troublemakers of the universe.

Their successors, the saints, martyrs and other saints, experienced the same thing. Read church history and you will see how no one escaped from them from slander. The saints living in the world now suffer the same from the evil world. For the world is constant in its malice: it does not love the truth, which the saints demonstrate both in word and in life, and always clings to lies and untruth, which they abhor. You are not the first to suffer reproach and dishonor. You see what the saints have endured and are now enduring (John 9:10-34).”

How not to slander your neighbor

Saint Basil the Great believes that sometimes the truth can turn out to be slander: “You cannot say anything about an absent brother with the intention of slandering him - this is slander, even if what was said was true.” “...But there are two cases in which it is permissible to speak evil (but the truth) about someone: when it is necessary to consult with others who are experienced in this, how to correct a sinner, and when it is necessary to warn others (without verbosity), who, out of ignorance, can often be in company with a bad person, considering him good... Whoever, without such a need, says something about another with the intention of slandering him, is a slanderer, even if he was telling the truth.”

Saint John Chrysostom warns: “Slander destroys great houses; one slandered, and through him others cry and weep: his children, his neighbors, and his friends. But for this, it can be bad for slanderers. The Lord does not accept their prayers from them, and their candles go out, and their offerings are not accepted, and the wrath of God rests on them, as David says: The Lord will consume all flattering lips, a lofty tongue.”

Saint Gregory the Theologian advises us to pay attention to why we complain about others: “If the complaint is unfair, it becomes slander...”

And the Monk Abba Isaiah does not advise using slander to save oneself from disasters and human malice: “Every unfortunate person is worthy of mercy when he mourns his disasters. But if he begins to slander others and harm them, then pity for his misfortunes will disappear; He is no longer recognized as worthy of regret, but of hatred, as having used his misfortune for evil by interfering in the affairs of others. So, the seeds of this passion must be destroyed at the beginning, before they germinate and become indestructible, and do not create danger for the one who is sacrificed to this passion.”

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Specific example

It seems that everything that is said is not worth paying attention to. Indeed, you won’t hold people accountable for their words on every occasion. But there are points that should not be ignored. The court considers each situation individually. At the meeting, the testimony of the victim and the accused, as well as witnesses (if any), must be heard. In addition, the judge is obliged to understand all the facts: is the defamatory information really libel? Or maybe it's true? Are there mitigating circumstances? What evidence is there that the information is false or, conversely, true? Can they be trusted? Is the information really disgracing and damaging the reputation of the victim?

How to understand if someone is gossiping about you

There are several signs that others will spread rumors about you or are already doing so.

They've already gossiped about others

If someone likes to discuss other people's lives, it means that he is unlikely to deny himself the pleasure of gossiping about you. Such people like to ingratiate themselves in order to extract the information they need. And if you open up with them, after some time you can learn a lot of new things about yourself - albeit from new lips.

They stop talking when they see you

If, for example, you walk into a room full of colleagues and they suddenly go silent, this could be a pretty worrying sign. Of course, they could be talking about something frivolous. But most likely they were just discussing you.

They ask you strange questions

If, for example, someone started a rumor that you were vacationing in the Maldives during an extended vacation, there may be someone who is interested in knowing the details. And this person will be very surprised when he finds out that you actually spent a week at home with a fever.

Sometimes, if the interlocutor is afraid or embarrassed to ask directly, he can ask leading questions like “What did you do over the weekend?” or “How did you spend your free time?”

Motives for the crime

False information is disclosed about a person for subjective reasons and with specific intent. The reasons can be different, often the motives are envy, jealousy or revenge, they are taken into account when imposing punishment. To punish the culprit, it is necessary to prove that he knew that the information being disseminated was untrue, that is, he understood that he was disseminating false information, but did it anyway. If the culprit was confident in the correctness of his words and sincerely believed that he was telling the truth, then this is not slander. But it is not always possible to reveal the fact whether the accused really did not know the whole truth or pretended not to know.

Thus, once two people convicted of libel were acquitted, despite the fact that the press published information about a certain person, accusing her of simulation and truancy. During the case, it was noted that the defendants were guilty of publishing information without thorough verification. But the information was made public based on information obtained from medical documents, as well as from the words of the head of the medical institution. The defendants had no reason not to believe this information, so they were confident in its veracity. Due to these circumstances, the charge of libel was dropped.

The court clarified that only persons who transmit knowingly false facts can be held liable. If the accused was mistaken in his judgment, but the information was offensive in nature, this situation fits the article that states insult. In this example, it is also possible to hold the person criminally liable.

Archival publication from 1999: “Slander as an indicator of success, or What to do if you have been slandered”

Slander is an outstanding genre of communication. It arose when man realized that in the struggle for existence one can use not only brute physical force, but also a second signaling system - a word that, as is known, can both inspire and kill. How to fight slander? Slander is the easiest way to fight for a place in the sun. This is a direct power technique, thanks to which you can influence competitors and public opinion. A civilized society fights slander with the help of laws - with the same success with which it tries to eradicate prostitution, crime and war.

Slander can be disguised as insufficiently reliable information, sincere misconceptions, or accidental errors. And despite subsequent denials, won lawsuits, and the remorse of the authors, she acts directly and for sure. The source of information is forgotten, the information remains.

Those who spread slander only need to take into account the cultural level of the audience: to slander a person, say, in a small village, it is enough to accuse him of stealing a sheep. And in a big city, for the same purpose, you need to make up a story about a wedding in the Hermitage. This is exactly how the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee, Grigory Romanov, was slandered in the mid-80s: they say he arranged a wedding for his daughter in the Winter Palace, and even broke the royal service. This blatant canard cost Romanov his career.

Only the strongest, most self-confident people build relationships with the world according to honest rules. On the contrary, slander is a weapon of the weak who have decided to get more from life than they deserve.

There is no method against scrap... If there is no other scrap

If you have been slandered, rejoice. It means you are worth something in this world. The level of slander is directly proportional to the scale of the slandered person. Balzac also noted that slander is indifferent to nonentities. If your bones are washed at the level of world news agencies, obviously the fate of humanity depends on you. If your life has become the object of close and unkind attention from state media, you have room to grow. If they are trying to “put you down” at the level of a company, division, or department, the scope of your activities is very modest, but your enemies have already discerned in you the makings of a bright personality.

“To persevere in your duties and remain silent is the best answer to slander.” These words belong to George Washington. But here one clarification is necessary: ​​people who already have a certain reputation and a big name can remain silent. They are not afraid of any slander.

If you have just started your career, and you have been slandered, and the company’s interests have also been jeopardized, you need to behave in exactly the opposite way. The main thing is not to remain silent.

Use defamatory statements as another opportunity for self-presentation. As soon as “well-wishers” bring you gossip on their tail, retell it publicly. “Imagine, someone accuses me of spying for a competing company. If I were a spy, I would tell them something so that they would make me rich and send me to live somewhere in the Bahamas.”

In self-defense, nuances are important: there is no need to make excuses - otherwise you yourself will spread defamatory information about yourself. The object of your response speech should not be you, but the gossip. We must show its absurdity. This is not difficult to do: the loudest slander is at the same time the most incredible, in which the ends do not meet. If the same Romanov had spoken openly on television, if the curators of the Hermitage had given their comments, perhaps the slander about the wedding and the service would have been nipped in the bud.

Another way to protect yourself is to immediately begin discussing the question “Who benefits from slandering you?” Involve the general public in the discussion. The enemy must at least understand that you are not at all afraid.

In the summer of 1996, at the height of competitions for the sale of oil companies, a number of Russian newspapers published information about the financial difficulties of Inkombank. It was clear to experts that at that time the bank remained one of the most reliable, however, the media successfully promoted the myth of its troubles. Inkombank began to be attacked by depositors who wanted to take their money from the “sinking ship.” This continued until the president of Inkom, Vladimir Vinogradov, announced that through the controlled media, Inkombank was being “sinked” by competitors in the oil business - Boris Berezovsky and Alexander Smolensky (SBS-AGRO). To prove the bank's stability, Vinogradov turned to depositors who took their money. He stated that the bank would not terminate deposit agreements and would even accrue the promised interest on deposits if “distrustful” citizens brought their money back. This broad gesture, as well as accusations against the famous schemer Boris Abramovich, did their job - clients began to return, and the bank survived. After some time, Berezovsky and Vinogradov met as partners.

It is vital for Russian politicians to be able to deal with slanderers, because accusations of corruption that are fashionable today can put an end to a career (and this is in the best case). Yuri Luzhkov’s team is working very effectively in this sense - the mayor sues the authors of every “dubious” publication (and, as you might guess, the Moscow mayor wins all cases). As a result, there are almost no journalists left in Moscow who want to speculate about the honesty of the mayor and his entourage.

In general, the legal “savvy” of citizens and firms, that is, the ability to successfully defend their interests in court, often has a sobering effect on slanderers. No media outlet will publish an exposé article knowing that it will be followed by a retraction or apology. Therefore, if you have been slandered in the press, consult a lawyer and, if there are false facts, file a lawsuit. Even if the case is lost, the very fact of your contacting lawyers disciplines your opponents and forces them to act more carefully in the future.

Slanderers can be disarmed in another way - by making your life absolutely transparent to the public. This primarily applies to politicians and other public figures. Slander flourishes where there is little information and therefore others are ready to believe any fable. If everything is known about the family, home life, relatives of this or that leader, it will become somehow uninteresting to slander him.

The reverse strategy also helps: it is difficult to slander a person who is the first to admit his vices. For example, Vladimir Zhirinovsky himself stated that he lives separately from his wife. It is unlikely that after this it would occur to anyone to slander that Zhirinovsky is a bad family man.

However, slander can be a prelude to great fame. A person who slanderes a musician, artist, artist is, in fact, advertising him. No matter how hard Soviet propaganda tried to discredit Academician Sakharov, it only added to his popularity. From Gorky's exile, Sakharov returned as a national hero, which he remains to this day.

In approximately the same way (one hundred and seventy years ago) fame came to the philosopher Chaadaev. He made what is called an angry criticism of the regime of Nicholas I - the authorities slandered him in response, declared him crazy, and assigned a doctor to him. Chaadaev, as if nothing had happened, continued his social life, appearing at balls and parties, demonstrating his normalcy. Thanks to these tactics, he became terribly famous.

Politicians, show business stars, and major entrepreneurs are targeted by slanderers so often that some gossip and lies should not be responded to at all. Assess the political weight of your opponent. If it is significantly lower than yours, you should not fire a cannon at sparrows. Alla Pugacheva, who sued the journalist, immediately made him famous throughout the country. Is it worth it to reward the slanderer so generously?

In general, the best defense against slander is tireless propaganda in various circles (relatives, friends, team, city, country, world) of one’s own good deeds.

Be proactive

If you have been slandered in public, you only have a few seconds to take a retaliatory move. You can become offended and automatically become a victim of the situation. Then you will be captured by your emotions, lose control over the situation and give your enemies the opportunity to make a scapegoat out of you. If you remain calm and hide your resentment for a while, then there is a chance to change the situation.

Use the well-known principle “the best defense is attack.” You can take an aggressive position and make an avalanche of counter-accusations to the slanderer. They “threw it in your face” that you stole a million; accuse the offender of stealing ten million. Let him justify himself. If you turn all the arguments of the slanderer against himself and find fault with his words, then in the end the enemy will become completely confused and the conversation will go far away from the original topic.

Another tactic is to seize the initiative for your own purposes. You need to listen to slanderous fabrications as if you were listening to baby talk. In response, say: “I am very sorry that you were so grossly misinformed.” And very quickly move on to another topic. It is desirable that this be a conversation about a truly important enterprise, against the background of which slander would seem like a bad joke.

All these techniques are a type of psychological games and manipulation of public opinion. They allow you to influence people without revealing your cards.

If you want to seriously deal with your enemies, you need to enter into negotiations with them, find out what reason prompted them to spread slander about you, and, if possible, eliminate these reasons. The highest aerobatics is to turn the slanderer into your partner.

The higher it is, the more it hurts

There is no radical cure for slander. Perfection itself can be slandered: even Christ, as we remember, accepted death due to slander. Evil tongues will turn any virtue inside out: the thrifty will be accused of stinginess, the generous - of wastefulness, the sincere - of stupidity, the reserved - of gloominess, the confident - of arrogance, the firm - of cruelty, the cheerful - of frivolity.

From the foregoing, one important conclusion can be drawn: it is impossible to live for pleasure, focusing primarily on the opinions of others and fearing their condemnation. The higher you are in the social hierarchy, the more often you will be subject to slanderous attacks. You can counter this with a sense of your own rightness and a creative attitude towards everything that you consider important.

EVGENIYA VARLAMOVA

Who can be held accountable?

When a person reaches sixteen years of age, he can be prosecuted under Article 129. This can be either the person who invented the false veils or the one who distributes them. The case begins to be considered only when the victim himself initiates it by filing a complaint. The punishment for libel can be imprisonment, therefore, when the court makes such a verdict, it must justify its decision. After all, there are other forms of punishment for this crime, for example, in the form of correctional labor and financial payments. The case must be considered comprehensively and fully, the punishment must be individualized.

If a punishment has been chosen that is not related to imprisonment or suspended imprisonment, then it is worth discussing the possibility of re-educating the culprit and transferring him to correctional labor in public organizations or organizations at the place of residence of the culprit.

Criminal liability for libel

Criminal liability is the most severe form of all known types of legal liability, since it is established for acts with the highest degree of public danger.
No material compensation is provided to the victim within the framework of criminal liability, therefore, in the case of libel, the initiation of criminal cases and convictions are quite rare occurrences. Meanwhile, bringing slanderers to criminal liability will significantly increase the effectiveness of protecting the constitutional rights of an individual to honor and good name: such serious consequences as serving a criminal sentence or a criminal record are more than sufficient to deter and prevent similar acts in the future. The victim, offended by slander, will receive moral satisfaction from the knowledge that the criminal received what he deserved. Criminal prosecution is possible only if the full corpus delicti is proven, i.e. object, objective side, subject and subjective side of the crime. Therefore, it is necessary to dwell in more detail on the characteristics of the crime of “libel.”

The object of the crime of “slander” is the totality of social relations in the field of a person’s exercise of the right to dignity, honor and reputation. Thus, the benefits protected by Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are:

Any individual is considered as a victim; legal entities cannot be victims in criminal law (unlike civil law protection - where legal entities can recover damage caused to business reputation).
The question remains open whether persons who have already died at the time of initiation of the case can be victims. It seems that in cases where slander discredits the good name or reputation of the deceased, members of his family may apply to initiate criminal proceedings. This is indirectly confirmed by Part 2 of Art. 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which allows private prosecution cases to be initiated at the request of close relatives of the deceased victim. Slander falls precisely into the category of private prosecution cases, since it is initiated only on the basis of a statement from the victim.

The objective side of slander consists of actions in the form of dissemination of information of a knowingly false nature, which discredits the honor and dignity of another person or undermines his reputation. Thus, the mere fact of disseminating knowingly false information does not constitute a criminal offense. Libel differs in its formal composition, i.e. a crime is considered committed when the defamatory information was actually disseminated, regardless of whether harm was caused to the victim.

In this regard, it is necessary to determine what is meant by the dissemination of defamatory information. In practice, the following actions are interpreted as dissemination of defamatory information:

Moreover, if such information was communicated to the person to whom it directly concerns, then this is not considered distribution, provided that all necessary confidentiality measures were taken during the communication.
Next, we will define what is meant by defamatory information; this is also a necessary element of the objective side of the crime. The official explanation of the term “defamatory information” is given in Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces 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.” Despite the fact that this resolution is devoted to issues of civil protection from the dissemination of defamatory information, its provisions are also applied in the practice of bringing to criminal liability, because the objective side is the same.

So, according to the official interpretation of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, statements that derogate the honor and dignity of a citizen are recognized as defamatory information:

When qualifying slander, it is necessary to distinguish between information that contains direct statements about facts that can be verified for compliance with their reality, and judgments of an evaluative nature, which essentially boil down to the expression of a person’s subjective opinion.
A person’s statement of his own beliefs does not contain specifics, and therefore cannot be characterized as false or true, and therefore does not fall under the crime of “slander.” For example, well-known political figures are always the objects of public debate; many different opinions and critical remarks are expressed in their address, but this is considered not only not criminally punishable, but useful for a more responsible attitude towards them in the performance of their duties. Further, an important sign of the objective side of slander is the false nature of the defamatory information that was disseminated. That is, it has been proven that this information is not true, and in fact the facts and events reported never happened. If the disputed information is indicated in official documents, then its false nature can be established only by appealing the relevant document in the manner prescribed by law (for example, appealing a court decision or challenging an official’s decision).

Often, when qualifying acts in practice, the signs of the objective side of slander and deliberately false denunciation are confused (Article 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), especially when slandering a person who has committed a serious or especially serious crime or a crime of a sexual nature. In such cases, it is necessary to find out what the intent of the criminal was aimed at: if the victim is brought to criminal responsibility, then this is a denunciation, and if he is humiliated, belittled by his honor and dignity, then this is already slander. Therefore, denunciation is most often expressed in a false report to law enforcement agencies about the commission of a crime.

Meanwhile, if the information reported by a citizen about a crime being prepared or committed is not confirmed, then this is not a basis for initiating a case of knowingly false denunciation. Article 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation applies only if there are facts convincingly indicating that the accusation of another with a crime was dictated solely by the intention to cause harm to that person.

The subjective side of slander (i.e., the attitude of the criminal to the crime) is expressed exclusively in the form of direct intent. It must be proven that the subject of the crime is aware of the false nature of the disseminated information and desires harmful consequences in the form of belittling the honor and dignity of another person. If the slanderer made a mistake in good faith, sincerely believing that the information he disseminated was reliable, he cannot be brought to criminal liability under Art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Aggravating circumstances

In matters of slander, there is the concept of aggravating circumstances. These are cases where the information was disseminated in writing or in print, or was also disclosed in an anonymous letter. Also, severe punishment is imposed on those who have previously been convicted under the same article. This assumes that such a person has an outstanding criminal record. If a conviction for previous slander is withdrawn or expunged, then in the current case these facts are not taken into account.

Aggravating circumstances include the fact that the victim suffered irreparable harm as a result of the dissemination of false information: he was fired from his job, his marriage broke up, or the person was hospitalized. Each case requires individual consideration.

How to cope with emotions if people gossip about you

To prevent gossip from ruining your mental health, Emma Seppälä, a lecturer at the Yale School of Management and director of the Center for the Study of Altruism and Education at Stanford University, recommends E. Seppälä. What to Do When You're the Target of a Hurtful Office Rumor / Harvard Business Review do the following.

Don't give up and don't let your feelings get the better of you.

Because of injustice and resentment, you can E. Martinescu, O. Janssen, B. A. Nijstad. Self-Evaluative and Other-Directed Emotional and Behavioral Responses to Gossip About the Self / Frontiers in Psychology to feel powerless. At such moments, it is better to distract yourself for a while and return to the problem with a “cool” head. Therefore, try to find something that will calm you down: special breathing practices, meditation, rest from work, playing sports or walking in the fresh air.

Don't blame yourself

You must understand that it is not your fault that someone said something bad about you. Especially if it's not true. Try to realize that gossipers are not discussing your real personality. For them, you are just a vague image generated by their complexes, envy, anger or inferiority. This image is not you, and it exists only in the heads of your offenders. And they should be ashamed, not you.

In addition, negativity is usually associated not only with the person to whom it applies, but also with the person spreading it. Is it worth taking the opinions of such people seriously? Not at all.

Forgive the gossipers for their narrow-mindedness

Research shows1. S. Noreen, R. N. Bierman, M. D. MacLeod. Forgiving You Is Hard, but Forgetting Seems Easy: Can Forgiveness Facilitate Forgetting? / Psychological Science 2. X. Zheng, R. Fehr, K. Tai et al. The Unburdening Effects of Forgiveness: Effects on Slant Perception and Jumping Height / Social Psychological and Personality Science that it can help you worry less about gossip. Try to sincerely forgive your own offenders. For example, acknowledge that their life is probably so hard or boring that they are interfering with yours. You may even feel sorry for them to yourself. Remember that those who forgive others do better for themselves.

Let time pass

Perhaps the gossip will quickly subside on its own. If, for example, in a new team they say about you that you like to push work onto others, but you demonstrate over and over again that you do everything yourself and even sometimes help your colleagues, the rumor will quickly die out. Therefore, before you do anything, think about whether the phrases discrediting you will sound just as loud a week or a month later. They're probably not even worth your reaction.

Don't let gossipers feel like they've hurt you

Try not to show them how much the information they spread hurts you, and remain calm. Your upset or violent reaction will not only convince the majority of the truth of the rumors, but will also please those who deliberately lie about you out of envy or hidden anger.

Share your experiences only with close people and those you trust and who can support you. This will get rid of the feeling that you are alone against the whole world.

How to prevent gossip

Experts also suggest 1. E. Seppälä. What to Do When You're the Target of a Hurtful Office Rumor / Harvard Business Review 2. E. Seppälä, K. Cameron. Proof That Positive Work Cultures Are More Productive / Harvard Business Review try to create a comfortable atmosphere in the team so that gossip does not appear in it at all. Here's what you can do about it.

Build connections with your team

Try to be sociable, friendly and understanding towards people. At work, it will be useful to find colleagues with whom you can communicate not only on formal issues. Of course, this will not 100% protect you from rumors, but it will significantly reduce the likelihood of them occurring.

Don't tell too much about yourself

Try not to say too much if you don’t want information about you, having passed through a damaged phone, to reach you again in an unrecognizable form.

You need to be especially careful when talking about something personal or confidential. If you don't want some information to become known to everyone, think twice about who you feel safe sharing it with and who you don't. A person can be a wonderful friend and a good comrade, but not be able to keep his mouth shut. Therefore, if you don’t want to fight rumors, don’t give the gossipers a reason.

Don't gossip yourself

You should not trust unverified information that someone told you third-hand. Or give your own interpretation of some events that you accidentally witnessed. And in general, it’s better to respect other people’s privacy and try not to talk about it too much. After all, the falsity of rumors may be revealed, and you will remain extreme, spoiling your reputation. And, one way or another, no one favors gossipers.