{
  "title": "Ladder: insult and defamation laws, in Europe",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/insult_and_defamation_laws?continent=europe",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "europe"
  },
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "tactic": {
    "slug": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
    "name": "Insult and defamation laws",
    "definition": "Laws that make it a crime, not only a civil wrong, to damage a person's reputation, to insult a head of state or a monarch (known as lèse-majesté), or to publish information that a government declares false, including laws against \"fake news\". Convictions can bring fines or prison.",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/insult_and_defamation_laws"
  },
  "focal_case": "US",
  "count": 6,
  "stages": [
    {
      "stage": "punish",
      "name": "Punish",
      "definition": "Legal or physical action against individual journalists or sources: subpoenas and record seizures, prosecutions, arrests, detention, expulsions, visa denials, assault where a government actor is involved.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "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",
          "stage": "punish",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "RS",
          "country_name": "Serbia",
          "continent": "europe",
          "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"
          },
          "leader_slug": "slobodan-milosevic",
          "leader_name": "Slobodan Milosevic",
          "what_was_done": "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.",
          "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.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
          "tactics": [
            "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
            "insult_and_defamation_laws"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1998-serbia-public-information-act-fines"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2020-hungary-coronavirus-fake-news-law",
          "title": "Hungary criminalizes false coronavirus information and grants Orban decree powers",
          "occurred_on": "2020-03-30",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "punish",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "HU",
          "country_name": "Hungary",
          "continent": "europe",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 74,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 74th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "viktor-orban",
          "leader_name": "Viktor Orban",
          "what_was_done": "Hungary's parliament passed an emergency coronavirus law allowing prison terms of up to five years for spreading information the government deemed false or distorted about the pandemic, and let Prime Minister Viktor Orban rule by decree for an unlimited period.",
          "outcome": "unknown",
          "outcome_on": null,
          "outcome_note": "Hungary's government said it would end Orban's decree powers by June 20, 2020; the false-information provision's later fate was not established.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 3,
          "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
          "tactics": [
            "insult_and_defamation_laws"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-hungary-coronavirus-fake-news-law"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2022-russia-criminalizes-fake-war-reports",
          "title": "Russia criminalizes 'fake' reporting on the military, up to 15 years in prison",
          "occurred_on": "2022-03-04",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "punish",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "RU",
          "country_name": "Russia",
          "continent": "europe",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 172,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "vladimir-putin",
          "leader_name": "Vladimir Putin",
          "what_was_done": "Russia's parliament passed a law criminalizing the publication of information about the military that contradicts official statements, with penalties up to 15 years in prison, prompting Novaya Gazeta to pull its Ukraine war coverage and the BBC, CNN and other outlets to suspend operations inside Ru…",
          "outcome": "sustained",
          "outcome_on": null,
          "outcome_note": "The law remained in force; independent outlets that avoided closure continued operating from outside Russia.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
          "tactics": [
            "insult_and_defamation_laws",
            "shutdowns_and_blocking"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-russia-criminalizes-fake-war-reports"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "stage": "silence",
      "name": "Silence",
      "definition": "Removing outlets or channels from the public sphere: closures, licence withdrawals, forced sales, blocking and shutdowns, prior restraint, nationalisation.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "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",
          "stage": "silence",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "ES",
          "country_name": "Spain",
          "continent": "europe",
          "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"
          },
          "leader_slug": "francisco-franco",
          "leader_name": "Francisco Franco",
          "what_was_done": "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 va…",
          "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.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 1,
          "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
          "tactics": [
            "credential_control",
            "insult_and_defamation_laws",
            "prior_restraint"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1938-spain-franco-press-law"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "stage": "eliminate",
      "name": "Eliminate",
      "definition": "Long imprisonment, killing, disappearance or forced exile of journalists, with state involvement as the sources state it.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "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",
          "stage": "eliminate",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "BY",
          "country_name": "Belarus",
          "continent": "europe",
          "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"
          },
          "leader_slug": "alexander-lukashenko",
          "leader_name": "Alexander Lukashenko",
          "what_was_done": "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.",
          "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.",
          "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.",
          "sources_count": 3,
          "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
          "tactics": [
            "insult_and_defamation_laws"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-belarus-poczobut-eight-year-sentence"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2023-russia-ponomarenko-fake-news-sentence",
          "title": "Russia: journalist Maria Ponomarenko is sentenced to six years for reporting on a Mariupol strike",
          "occurred_on": "2023-02-15",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "eliminate",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "RU",
          "country_name": "Russia",
          "continent": "europe",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 172,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "vladimir-putin",
          "leader_name": "Vladimir Putin",
          "what_was_done": "A Russian court sentenced journalist Maria Ponomarenko to six years in prison and a five-year ban on journalism under a law criminalizing \"false information\" about the military, after she published a Telegram post about an airstrike on a Mariupol theater that Russia denies carrying out.",
          "outcome": "sustained",
          "outcome_on": "2023-02-15",
          "outcome_note": "Ponomarenko's six-year sentence and five-year journalism ban stood as of the source reviewed.",
          "ladder_note": "A journalist received a six-year sentence and a five-year professional ban under a wartime false-information law for one social media post, not a fine or license action.",
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
          "tactics": [
            "insult_and_defamation_laws"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-russia-ponomarenko-fake-news-sentence"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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    "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/insult_and_defamation_laws.md?continent=europe"
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
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}