{
  "title": "Incidents: insult and defamation laws in Europe, outcome reversed",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?continent=europe&tactic=insult_and_defamation_laws&outcome=reversed",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "europe",
    "tactic": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
    "outcome": "reversed"
  },
  "sort": "date",
  "count": 3,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "per_page": 50,
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "facets": {
    "country": [
      {
        "value": "BY",
        "label": "Belarus",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 165,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 165th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "RS",
        "label": "Serbia",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 104,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 104th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "ES",
        "label": "Spain",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 29,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 29th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      }
    ],
    "continent": [
      {
        "value": "europe",
        "label": "Europe"
      }
    ],
    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
        "label": "Insult and defamation laws",
        "count": 3
      },
      {
        "value": "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
        "label": "Funding and ownership pressure",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "credential_control",
        "label": "Credential control",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "prior_restraint",
        "label": "Prior restraint",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "stage": [
      {
        "value": "punish",
        "label": "Punish",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "silence",
        "label": "Silence",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "eliminate",
        "label": "Eliminate",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 3
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "reversed",
        "label": "Reversed",
        "count": 3
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "alexander-lukashenko",
        "label": "Alexander Lukashenko"
      },
      {
        "value": "francisco-franco",
        "label": "Francisco Franco"
      },
      {
        "value": "slobodan-milosevic",
        "label": "Slobodan Milosevic"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2020s",
        "label": "2020s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1990s",
        "label": "1990s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1930s",
        "label": "1930s",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "1938",
        "label": "1938",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1998",
        "label": "1998",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2023",
        "label": "2023",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 3
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2023-belarus-poczobut-eight-year-sentence",
      "title": "Belarus: journalist Andrzej Poczobut is sentenced to eight years for inciting hatred",
      "occurred_on": "2023-02-08",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "BY",
      "country_name": "Belarus",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "BY",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
      "tactics": [
        "insult_and_defamation_laws"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "alexander-lukashenko",
      "leader_name": "Alexander Lukashenko",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Poczobut had been a longtime commentator and producer for programs on the Poland-based independent broadcaster Belsat TV and Polish public broadcaster TVP Polonia, reporting on Belarus for a Polish-speaking audience.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "2026-04-28",
      "outcome_note": "Poczobut was freed on April 28, 2026, as part of a prisoner exchange involving eight countries, before completing his eight-year sentence.",
      "stage": "eliminate",
      "ladder_note": "A journalist was imprisoned for about five years on a hatred and sanctions charge, and his release required an eight-country prisoner exchange rather than any domestic legal process.",
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 165,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 165th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "reversed",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "A Belarusian court sentenced dual Belarusian-Polish journalist Andrzej Poczobut to eight years in prison on charges of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions, and he was freed three years later as part of a multi-country prisoner exchange.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-belarus-poczobut-eight-year-sentence"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1998-serbia-public-information-act-fines",
      "title": "Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger",
      "occurred_on": "1998-10-20",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "RS",
      "country_name": "Serbia",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "RS",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
      "tactics": [
        "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
        "insult_and_defamation_laws"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "slobodan-milosevic",
      "leader_name": "Slobodan Milosevic",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Independent Serbian media's coverage of NATO's escalating confrontation with Yugoslavia over Kosovo through 1998 and 1999.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "2000-10-01",
      "outcome_note": "The law was suspended after Milosevic lost power in October 2000 elections and a change of government in Serbia.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 104,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 104th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1990s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Serbia's parliament passed a Public Information Act allowing courts to levy same-day fines against newspapers for vaguely defined offenses against the state's interests, and independent papers were fined far more often and more heavily than pro-government ones.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1998-serbia-public-information-act-fines"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1938-spain-franco-press-law",
      "title": "Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law",
      "occurred_on": "1938-04-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "month",
      "country": "ES",
      "country_name": "Spain",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "ES",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
      "tactics": [
        "credential_control",
        "insult_and_defamation_laws",
        "prior_restraint"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "francisco-franco",
      "leader_name": "Francisco Franco",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Franco's Nationalist forces were still fighting Spain's civil war in April 1938 and used the new Press Law to consolidate direct control over which newspapers could exist and who could work as a journalist within them.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "1977-04-01",
      "outcome_note": "Spain abolished prior press controls by decree in April 1977, after Franco's 1975 death, ahead of the 1978 constitution that guaranteed freedom of the press.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 29,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 29th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1930s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "While Spain's civil war continued, the Nationalist government led by Francisco Franco enacted a Press Law in April 1938 requiring government permission to found a newspaper, work as a journalist or direct a paper, alongside continued pre-publication press controls and years-long prison terms for vaguely defined offenses.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1938-spain-franco-press-law"
    }
  ],
  "downloads": {
    "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?continent=europe&tactic=insult_and_defamation_laws&outcome=reversed&format=csv",
    "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.json?continent=europe&tactic=insult_and_defamation_laws&outcome=reversed",
    "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.md?continent=europe&tactic=insult_and_defamation_laws&outcome=reversed"
  },
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}