Monitoring report: Defamation laws still concern for Europe media
January 30th, 2018
Study: criminal defamation unduly limits media freedom OSCE media freedom representative releases IPI-authored report on laws across region
In EU, calls to repeal blasphemy laws grow after Paris attacks IPI research: blasphemy, religious insult still a crime in half of member states
VIENNA, Jan 16, 2015 – Calls in Europe for the abolition of the continent’s remaining blasphemy laws have grown louder following last week’s deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo, a French magazine known for its unsparing religious satire.
In France, judicial evolution in defamation cases protects work of civil society Robust interpretation of good-faith defence thwarts wave of claims brought by Equatorial Guinea elites
“Flabbergasting”. It was the only word one French police agent could find to describe the riches seized in a Feb. 2012 raid on an €80 million Paris apartment belonging to Teodorin Obiang (Jr.), son of Equatorial Guinea’s long-serving dictator. Millions (upon millions) of euros worth of wine, art, and furniture—all, according to the French NGOs that had been scrutinising the Obiangs for years, funded through embezzlement of the country’s oil wealth.
EU defamation laws fall dramatically short of international standards, IPI report indicates In vast majority of member states, defamation remains criminal offence punishable by imprisonment
VIENNA, July 17, 2014 – An International Press Institute (IPI) report on defamation law in the European Union (EU) indicates that EU member states fall dramatically short of fulfilling relevant international standards on freedom of expression, with the vast majority maintaining criminal defamation provisions that threaten the media’s ability to report on matters in the public interest.
