DEFAMATION LAW in RUSSIA in the CONTEXT of the COUNCIL of EUROPE (COE) STANDARDS on MEDIA FREEDOM Elena Sherstoboeva*
DEFAMATION LAW IN RUSSIA IN THE CONTEXT OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE (COE) STANDARDS ON MEDIA FREEDOM Elena Sherstoboeva* I. INTRODUCTION Being a legitimate aim for limiting freedom of expression, the right to protect one’s reputation has been sometimes used by national governments to shield politicians and civil servants against criticism.1 Excessively protective defamation laws have a “chilling effect” on freedom of expression and public discussion.2 The development of the internet has instigated considerable new challenges for protecting one’s reputation, which often becomes the pretext for adopting harsh legal measures that threaten online freedom of expression and defamation. In Russia, there is a consistently high count of annual defamation cases. Every year, the Russian courts consider 5,800 civil lawsuits on defamation.3 More than half of these lawsuits are against journalists as well as media editorial offices,4 and the defendants are typically not the victors.5 Russia is among a few European countries keeping criminal liability for libel and insult of public officials. Furthermore, the Russian parliament outlawed “blatant disrespect” of the Russian state, state bodies, society, the Constitution, and * Assistant Professor, School of Creative Media, School of Law, City University of Hong Kong. The results of the project “Medialization of social institutions, communities and everyday life” (TZ-46), carried out within the framework of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in 2017, are presented in this work. 1 See Monica Macovei, Freedom of Expression: A Guide to the Implementation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (2014), https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09 0000168007ff48.
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