Slander is the dissemination of knowingly false information that discredits the honor and dignity of another person. On July 13, 2012, the collection of legislation of the Russian Federation on the initiative of the newly elected President V. V. Putin, a decision was again made and Article 129 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was put into effect, according to which the guilty person faces criminal punishment for a proven fact of libel.
Everyone has the right to have an unblemished reputation that preserves his honor, dignity, pride and good name. If someone encroaches on this right and disseminates deliberately false information published in the press, on the Internet, sounded on television, on the radio, in public speeches, set out in writing on paper or electronic media, transmitted orally to at least one person, this is considered criminal a crime.
Defamatory information includes false information about a violation of current legislation, unethical behavior, dishonest behavior, unfair treatment of assigned tasks, violation of business ethics. The subjective assessment of one person by another in the form of the expressed words "stupid", "bad", etc., does not refer to a criminal offense and cannot be punished, but these words refer to an insult to a person. For which an administrative penalty can be imposed.
Despite the fact that criminal liability is threatened for defamation, fines continue to be issued in the Russian Federation. The only thing that has changed is that the amount of fines has increased. Currently, knowingly false information can be fined from 1 to 5 million rubles.
If the guilty person has nothing to pay and the bailiffs have nothing to describe due to the lack of personal property, the citizen may be involved in corrective labor for a period of 480 hours.
The purpose of the adopted law is to make citizens think and weigh everything well, check the information received and only then express it. The slanderers must understand that they face serious punishment for false information.
Vladimir Pozner gave an interesting assessment of the newly adopted law. In his blog, he wrote that in the current political situation in Russia, the adopted law can be used against the political opposition. Especially need to think about those who are used to indiscriminately, guided by impulse and emotions to speak out against their opponents. Such behavior can be regarded as the spread of knowingly false information and punished by law.
