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41 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 861 (2002-2003)
Criminal Defamation and Insult Laws: An Infringement on the Freedom of Expression in European and Post-Communist Jurisdictions

handle is hein.journals/cjtl41 and id is 869 raw text is: LL.M. Comments Criminal Defamation and Insult Laws: An Infringement on the Freedom of Expression in European and Post-Communist Jurisdictions A free press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that freemen prize.' Winston Churchill I. INTRODUCTION A fundamental characteristic of democratic states is the existence of the right to freedom of expression, which subsumes the right to a free press. While some countries have opted to fully protect this latter freedom through legislation, others, including some European countries, have safeguarded it only to varying degrees. Freedom of expression is a guaranteed constitutional right in almost all Western and Eastern European countries - in both stable and emerging democracies. Nevertheless, nearly all European states possess, at least on the books, criminal laws that seek to protect government institutions and public officials against insult or defamation. These laws are structured and named differently within each country, but often have similar intentions - they punish open discussion and criticism of government and public officials. In attempts to conceal wrongdoing or escape criticism, governments can enforce criminal defamation and insult laws and deter the press from disclosing information to the public. While not all governments enforce these laws regularly, in states where enforcement is customary, the press is often forced to practice self-censorship for fear of criminal liability. For this reason, the kind of information 1. PRESS AND SPEECH FREEDOMS IN THE WORLD, FROM ANTIQUITY UNTIL 1998: A CHRONOLOGY 186 (1998).

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