Muzzle for humans3/8/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() What makes the second paragraph of Article 212 of Poland’s criminal code so particularly important to those who care about free speech is that it ensures defamation of public figures, institutions and businesses using mass media is punishable by a sentence of a fine or up to a year in prison. Poland has one of the broadest and strictest – i.e., the imposing of custodial sentences – insult laws in the EU, a study by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe revealed in 2017. Under Polish law, you can even be found guilty of humiliating a monument or expressing your contempt for the Polish national anthem. Naturally, it’s not only Article 212 that was subject to this call the Polish criminal code comprises a whole set of defamation and insult laws protecting religious feelings, the Polish state and state organs, as well as the president against defamation. The assembly noted that, “the article guarantees freedom of expression in respect not only of ‘information’ or ‘ideas’ that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also of those that offend, shock or disturb.” It’s a very swift option and handy political tool, he explains, adding that it’s also very uncomfortable for journalists, as they are the ones who need to prove that they were accurate and truthful in their coverage.Īs far back as 2007, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe called on member states (Poland among them) to immediately abolish prison sentences for defamation, as it found they can’t be reconciled with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. “I had a couple of those – we call them ‘Twelves’ ,” he says, in reference to the digits of the relevant Article in the criminal code. Now head of Reporters Foundation, a founder and member of the international collective Investigate Europe, and himself an investigative reporter for more than 20 years, Ciesla knows what he’s talking about. “If you have something behind your ears and a journalist reports it, as a politician or public figure you can simply claim it’s all untrue and sue them using 212.” “It’s a very handy club that you can beat the media with,” Polish investigative journalist Wojciech Ciesla tells BIRN, explaining the reluctance of politicians to get rid of the infamous law regardless of domestic and international pressure. Worse, according to the statistics of the Justice Ministry made available to BIRN, the number of convictions in relation to Article 212/paragraph 2 have actually ballooned since then, rising from 70 in 2015 and reaching 137 just two years later, 119 and 91 in the 20 years respectively, and 68 in first six months of 2021. Although his party, Law and Justice (PiS), has had numerous occasions to live up to those words since it came to power in 2015, its MPs have never got round to it. ![]()
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