Criminal Code > TITLE III CRIMES AGAINST 1

TITLE III CRIMES AGAINST HONOUR

CHAPTER I GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 607- Principle.

(1) Crimes against honour or reputation, committed in one of the forms specified in the following Articles, are punishable no matter what the rank or social status of the criminal or of the injured party.

They may be committed against individuals, or juridical persons. In the case of individuals, they may be committed equally against living persons, deceased persons or against persons declared absent.

(2) In determining the punishment for the different crimes, the Court shall take into account the gravity of the crime, the position of the injured party and the extent of the publicity or circulation involved in the crime.

Article 608- Means of Commission.

Injury to honour, direct or indirect, can be committed whether by word of mouth or by sound, in writing, by image, drawing, sign behaviour or gesture or by any other means or other way whatsoever.

Indirect means of crime or circulation by any process of recording reproduction, emission, communication or projection, graphical, isual or aural, rank with natural and direct means.

Article 609- Punishment to be imposed where the Crime is Committed by Juridical Persons.

(1) The punishment to be imposed shall be a fine where the crime is committed by a juridical person.

(2) The penalty to be inflicted upon the juridical person under sub-article (1) shall not prevent the punishment of its directors, managers, inspectors, agents, proxies or members who are proved to have committed a crime of the same kind personally.

Article 610- Compensation.

(1) Damages for the material or moral injury done to the injured party, shall be fixed by the Court in accordance with the general provisions (Art. 101), having regard to the gravity and extent of the crime and to the positions of the criminal and the injured party.

(2) The moral reparation ordered by the Court, especially in the form of publication of the judgment, of a part thereof or of its operative part (Art. 155), shall be determined in the light of the same considerations, and shall be adapted to the degree of protection called for in each specific case.

Article 611- Immunity.

Members of the constitutionally established legislature, executive or judiciary are not susceptible to legal proceedings on the ground of injury to honour done by information or statements, correct as to form, given or made by them in conformity with their duties and in the regular discharge of their duties.

Article 612- Non-Punishable Comment and Averments.

The following are not punishable as injury to honour:

a) considered opinions and well-founded criticism, couched in proper and moderate terms, concerning personal aptitudes or artistic, literary, scientific, professional or social activities, creations or productions; or

b) averments, statements or comments uttered or repeated by a public servant or by an advocate or attorney, by an expert or witness, by a journalist or by any other person acting in good faith in the discharge of his duties, especially by way of investigations, reports or depositions, in the defence before court or before the administrative authorities, or by way of authorized public information service, where the alleged facts are germane to and remain within the confines thereof and where they are not uttered with express intent to discredit.