How to punish someone for insulting you online or in person?
Our lawyer will advise, draw up an application for administrative liability, a statement of claim demanding recovery of moral damages for insult, and will represent your interests in court and at the stage of execution of the decision.
What is the punishment for insult?
Currently, it is no longer possible to punish for insult using the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In 2011, amendments were made to the Russian list of laws, and insult was no longer a criminal offense. But this does not mean that any act against an individual can be left unpunished. Now you can punish a person for insulting someone if you use the Civil Code and its basic tenets, since this crime has been transferred to the category of administrative offenses.
According to Article 5.61. Insult “Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses” dated December 30, 2001 N 195-FZ: “insult, that is, humiliation of the honor and dignity of another person, expressed in an indecent form.”
Individuals, legal entities and officials will have to pay a fine if such an offense is committed. The amount ranges from two to one hundred thousand rubles. The most impressive penalties await the heads of law firms, who will have to pay more than 50 thousand rubles.
Germany
On August 19, 2021, a Chechen living in Germany, Mokhmad Abdurakhmanov, was sentenced to a fine of €1,350 for reposting on Facebook an article by the Deutsche Welle television and radio company about arms suppliers to the terrorist organization “Islamic State” (IS, banned in the Russian Federation). The material was illustrated with a photograph of armed militants with IS symbols; Abdurakhmanov provided the repost with the comment: “I don’t know who supplied what, where and what, but the photo shows Kalashnikov assault rifles.” The court of the city of Augsburg (the state of Bavaria) decided that Abdurakhmanov distributed on the Internet the symbols of an extremist group, which have been banned in Germany since 2014. The lawyer pointed out that the Deutsche Welle article was reposted by over 80 people, but only Abdurakhmanov was fined. The television and radio company itself was also not subject to any punishment. The second point of accusation against the Chechen was the reposting of two videos in which Israeli soldiers set dogs on a Palestinian child. The court found that Abdurakhmanov had distributed a video that offended human dignity.
Procedure for bringing to justice for insult
So, if you seriously decide to punish the offender, you will have to spend time collecting evidence. The easiest way is to print from a website. The printed page can be notarized, then even if the offensive review itself is already deleted, this evidence can still be presented in court, because the notary, before notarizing, is obliged to review the site and draw up an inspection report.
You also need to understand what we are talking about in your case: insult or slander. This is not the same thing. Unlike insults, slander is the dissemination of deliberately false information that discredits the honor and dignity of another person and undermines his reputation. Criminal liability has been established for libel (Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Insult and slander have an intersection point - the goal is to discredit a person. However, there is no deliberate falsity in insults. In addition, insult can be caused not only by words. You can also offend by action - for example, by caricature. Slander has only verbal formulation.
However, the fact of slander still needs to be proven. Judicial practice shows that not all statements confirm the presence of slander. There is a list of phrases that courts do not classify as slander: “shows negligence,” “puts people in a ridiculous position,” “abuses trust,” “without shame or conscience,” “makes inadequate decisions,” “grossly violates the rights of citizens,” “humiliates dignity”, “not professional”, “not always in the mind and sound memory”, “may be in a mentally abnormal state”.
Proceedings regarding issues of slander and insults online can be conducted not only between individuals. Large companies often find themselves in such processes. The main reason why such situations arise is the low culture of communication between citizens and the lack of proper control of the online sphere. Now this situation has been largely corrected. Today there are real punishments and large fines for crimes committed on the Internet, especially when it comes to legal entities. In the near future they will only get tougher.
Statement to the prosecutor and the opportunity to sue for insult
Do you know if it is possible to punish for insult? The answer to this question is yes. If you want a person or organization to be punished for committing criminal acts against you, submit a corresponding application to the prosecutor's office. Don't understand how to punish your neighbor for insulting her? Use the previous advice, and then wait for verification by a government authority.
Next, the materials are automatically transferred to the court for further proceedings. As a result, a fine will be imposed on your offender in accordance with current legislation, if the magistrate court does not find grounds for bringing to administrative liability - a complaint against the decision on administrative liability will help restore justice in the case. You can also go directly to court for compensation for moral damage and protection of honor and dignity.
You can also learn from our professional lawyers about how to punish for insulting a person. They can assist in collecting documents to prove the guilt of another person or company. Representation of you by our lawyers is your right choice.
Difference from libel
Liability for libel and offensive language is determined by various criminal laws.
Consequently, if the culprit contains offensive statements in his actions, he will be punished under several articles:
- 1 – “Slander”.
- 139 – “Insulting a representative of the authorities.”
- 336 – “Insulting an employee.”
Thus, slander differs significantly from simple insult, since it provides for a more severe punishment for the guilty person.
Depending on the identity of the victim, there is a certain punishment for threats and insults, the article on which clearly indicates this. Criminal liability may be imposed for slander, but only administrative liability for offensive speech.
How to prove insult?
A person can be insulted under various circumstances, including by making a telephone call.
How to prove personal insult without witnesses? The question is not easy, since in the absence of witnesses it is quite difficult to prove insult, and the court does not always accept certain evidence of the guilt of the person who insulted the victim. And yet, measures can be taken to record the fact of insult, namely:
- you can turn on the voice recorder and make an audio recording of a conversation with the person insulting you;
- You can also record a video on your phone without focusing on the fact that you are recording your face on video. At the same time, after the insult expressed by the person is recorded, you can, continuing the video recording, inform him that you filmed his fiery speech;
- a conversation between two persons can take place in a place where a video camera is installed that records everything that happens in a particular place, and, accordingly, you can make a request to be provided with a video recording of your conversation with the offender, which will be evidence.
REMEMBER : The court may decide that evidence is inadmissible.
How to prove insult over the phone? You can always install a call recorder on your phone (actually a voice recorder for calls) so that audio recordings of phone conversations are made, i.e., so that your voice and the voice of the caller are recorded. IMPORTANT: periodically delete audio recordings you do not need so that the memory is not full, otherwise the audio recording of the conversation you need may not be saved.
If it is not possible to install a call recorder on your phone, but a witness is present at the time of the conversation, you can turn on the speakerphone so that the witness can hear the words of the person insulting you.
You can also record a telephone conversation with a voice recorder, provided that such a device is sensitive enough and capable of recording the conversation, the caller, or you need to turn on the speakerphone so that the voice recorder is sure to record the caller's voice.
ATTENTION : during a telephone conversation, you must try to establish the identity of the caller and record the date of the conversation, for example, by saying: “And you are calling me today, Sunday, September 22, 2021, to express your insults for an incident that happened in early September?”
Personal insult at work . If a person was insulted at work, then the evidence will depend on the circumstances under which this happened, i.e., if in the presence of other employees, then witness testimony will be used as evidence; if video cameras are installed, the evidence will be video recording; You can also take your own measures to record the insult using the above methods.
In the case where the insult is written on paper, the proof will be a corresponding note with the handwriting of the offender.
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What to do if you are accused of an insult that you did not commit?
How to act if you did not insult, but you are accused of it, depends on the factual circumstances and arguments of the other party. If a person claims that you insulted him, then he must prove it. Given the evidence presented by the person, it will be necessary to raise objections and provide counter-evidence.
For example, if a person claims that you called him and insulted him, you can provide information about phone calls from your phone number, which will not include the phone number of the person accusing you.
If an audio recording of a conversation is presented, then you can ask for a voice examination to determine whether the voice in the audio recording belongs to you or not. Thus, presenting evidence that you did not abuse anyone depends on the evidence of the person accusing you.
Fine for insulting personality
If you admit that you have insulted this or that person, then during the consideration of the administrative case, you can admit your guilt, say that you repent, and ask the court to assign you the minimum fine. But you shouldn’t count on imposing a fine less than the minimum, since for citizens the minimum fine under Part 1 of Art. 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation is 1,000 rubles.
According to the provisions of Part 2.2 of Article 4.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, the court may, in the presence of some exceptional circumstances that are related to the offense committed, its consequences, the identity of the person involved, as well as his property status, impose a fine in an amount that will be less than the minimum amount a fine under a specific part of the article, but on the condition that such a minimum fine for citizens is at least 10,000 rubles.
Since, according to Part 1 of Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, the minimum fine is 1,000 rubles, the court will not be able to reduce it, but the person involved can count on the minimum amount, if he admits guilt, repents and asks the court to assign him the minimum. Also, the offender can present documents about his not very good financial situation at the time of consideration of the case, various material that characterizes him positively, and give explanations about the exceptional circumstances that served as the reason for committing the offense. Although, if the offense was committed for the first time and did not entail any serious consequences, the offender does not dispute his guilt, the court will most likely impose the minimum fine for the first time.
You can appeal a fine for insulting a person if you do not agree with the imposition of administrative liability, since you did not commit an offense, because no one was insulted, or the maximum fine was imposed on you.
The appeal takes place according to the rules of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, i.e. a complaint against the decision of the magistrate is submitted to a higher district court through the magistrate, within the established time frame for appealing - 10 days.
PLEASE NOTE : the appeal procedure must be specified in the judge's decision.
New Zealand
On June 18, 2021, Christchurch resident Philip Neville Arps received a 21-month prison sentence for reposting a video broadcast of a high-profile terrorist attack on Facebook (on March 15, far-right New Zealand radical Brenton Tarrant attacked two mosques, killing 51 people; he broadcast his actions on social networks). Subsequently, Arps published several more videos dedicated to this crime. During the investigation, Arps stated that he considered the terrorist’s actions “amazing” and did not feel sympathy or remorse.
Several other New Zealanders were prosecuted for publishing or reposting materials related to the March 15 terrorist attack. Thus, the teenager, whose name did not appear in the media, was charged with “inciting extreme violence” for posting on Facebook a photo of one of the mosques in Christchurch with the words “Target acquired”.
The Facebook administration deleted the video broadcast a few minutes after the police contacted it, but the recording was viewed about 4 thousand times. Within 24 hours of the shooting, more than 1.2 million attempts to download the video were blocked.
Punishment for insulting on the Internet
The majority of Internet trolls believe that rudeness, slander, and obscene language that they write on the global network and pass off as “personal opinion” will go unpunished. That's why they write it. They please their pride and revel in the defenselessness of their opponent. Trolls, that is, Internet boors, almost always act anonymously, publishing posts under different nicknames (names). This is because they are afraid of publicity, they are afraid that the object will find out who allows themselves to be insulted and something will follow. Their only goal is to offend, but at the same time remain unrecognized. In most cases, such troubles go unpunished. But this is most likely due to ignorance. The legislation specifies methods and mechanisms to bring trolls to justice. And this must be done.
First you need to understand what is the object of the offense. In the case of online insult (unflattering review, statement on social networks), this is the honor and dignity of the person being insulted. Only a sane person over 16 years old can bear responsibility. In this case, it is possible to determine direct intent and the fact of awareness of the actions.
This is how one of the citizens was caught “directly.” She left offensive comments online about her boss under different names: these were social networks, review services - unflattering “opinions” about the company and its management appeared there. For obvious reasons, the woman's real name did not appear anywhere. As they say now, the lady was trolling her boss. The offended boss contacted the police. During the inspection, it was found that a large number of comments were written under different names, but from the same IP address. Electronic traces quickly led law enforcement officers to the home of a man whose wife worked at the very enterprise that was discussed in the offensive reviews. The police did not consider it simply a coincidence. The citizen soon admitted her guilt. A case was opened against the woman for an administrative offense, the fine was 3,000 rubles.
In the Yaroslavl region, a conflict on the VK social network brought two ladies into the courtroom. In this case, the offender did not hide her name - she left offensive comments about her work colleague. As a result, I owed 50,000 rubles for moral damage.
It is not technically difficult for the police to “unravel” such cases. According to the Judicial Department, over the past six months in Russia more than 6,000 people have been fined under the article “insult”. Let me remind you that several years ago, this article was decriminalized. Previously, for a “hot word” it was quite possible to get a criminal record – criminal liability.
China
On December 25, 2021, a Nanjing court sentenced journalist Sun Lin to four years in prison on charges of “inciting subversion of state power.” The reason was several of his posts on Chinese social networks containing criticism of the authorities and the slogan “Down with the Communist Party!” Sun Lin previously served a prison sentence for his reporting.
In 2021, Chinese journalist Ding Lingjie published a video on social networks with a speech by human rights activists Li Xuehui and Wang Fengxian. The authorities considered that their statements insulted Chinese President Xi Jinping. As a result, on December 28 of the same year, a Beijing court sentenced the journalist, as well as Li and Wang, to 20 months in prison.
Sample application to the prosecutor's office for personal insult
Prosecutor of the Oktyabrsky District Prosecutor's Office
Ekaterinburg
Ekaterinburg, st. Karla Marksa, 43-A
Applicant:
WITH.
STATEMENT
on the initiation of an administrative offense case based on insults
My husband’s mother, S., received an apartment under a social tenancy agreement for the whole family (including me and our daughter) when S. was in the army. Thus, I, my husband and our daughter have the right to use this apartment, since we are relatives employer.
However, for a year S. hid the fact of receiving the said apartment from my husband, since she wanted to live alone in a large apartment.
In this regard, for a long time I have endured insults from my husband’s relatives - his mother, his father and his younger brother. They are dissatisfied with the fact that I, my husband and our daughter have the right to live in the indicated apartment; therefore, they use tactics of constant insults, attempts to humiliate us, and inciting groundless conflicts so that we give up this right. This manifests itself as follows:
S. constantly states that she is ashamed that her son has found such a family, that my mother and I constantly humiliate everyone, organize hazing, seek benefits, and have made her son henpecked. In her opinion, my mother and I bewitched her son, zombified him, and sucked all the juice out of him. All this is constantly accompanied by obscene words “b...ka”, “b...d”, and the expression “fuck you”.
Also, at 23:56, my mother’s number received an SMS message with the following content: “the bastard ruined my whole life.” The next day I called this number back from my husband’s phone, a woman answered the phone and said that this was the phone of her ten-year-old daughter, that at 22:00 she was already going to bed, and that there were no SMS messages with such content in the sent ones. I started asking questions about whether a ten-year-old girl could write such a thing, what city the woman who answered the phone and her daughter live in, where she works. It turned out that the woman I spoke with works in pre-trial detention center No. 1, located at Ekaterinburg, st. Repina, 4. S. also works there. From this we concluded that it was S. who wrote the SMS message, since only she had motives for this.
Ten minutes later the woman called back with threats: “We have filed a police report against you, you are calling my ten-year-old daughter’s number, you are not giving us peace, you will be called to the police any day now.”
One day S. and A.A. They gave us a multicooker, which turned out to be used and not even washed (we already had a multicooker). We returned such an openly mocking and offensive gift, after which S. called me and expressed everything he thought about me, while liberally using obscene expressions.
There was a correspondence between me and S. on the social network VKontakte, in which he repeatedly called my husband “hu... oh.” He also wrote the following phrases: “you are a mouse”, “sit in your hole”, “I haven’t seen life, but I’m already “peeing” something”, “your lot in life is to pretend to be a poor sheep”, etc.
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Insults from M., S.’s sister.
After I wrote a letter to all S.’s relatives to describe the real state of affairs, there was an immediate reaction from M.:
“From your message, I understand that you are very dangerous and evil people who can kill a person with a word and give them a heart attack. But only I know and am 100% sure that what you write is complete nonsense and nonsense. All facts are distorted beyond recognition. I don’t want to prove anything to you and discover something new for myself. I KNOW MY SISTER WELL and therefore I ask you to even DEMAND that you stop treating her like this. IT'S A PITY THAT DIMA FOUND SUCH “RELATED RELATIVES.” There are a lot of questions for him. How can you cheat on your family, step over, wipe your feet on your PARENTS. Let your MOTHER be humiliated to such an extent. Which gave him life. Who raised him, FEEDED him, taught him, DRESSED him. I don’t think that you are very literate and erudite people, but you don’t have the main qualities: morality, conscience, decency. It’s a pity, of course, that you will raise Ulyana in the same spirit. I wish you good health and see a psychiatrist.”
At the same time, S.’s family can hardly be called prosperous. S. was convicted and is now serving a sentence of correctional labor. This suggests that these people, in principle, have all their ideas about morality displaced, lack legal awareness, and are prone to a marginal lifestyle.
At the same time, I, my mother and my husband are intelligent people, we think about the future, we are raising a daughter, and the actions on the part of these individuals are nothing more than real bullying. We no longer have any strength to endure, to make concessions, to try to sort things out peacefully.
In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, insult, that is, humiliation of the honor and dignity of another person, expressed in an indecent form, entails the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of one thousand to three thousand rubles; for officials - from ten thousand to thirty thousand rubles; for legal entities - from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand rubles.
By virtue of Art. 21 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the dignity of the individual is protected by the state. Nothing can be a reason to belittle him.
Based on the above and guided by current legislation,
ASK:
- Initiate an administrative offense against S., the elements of which are provided for in Part 1 of Art. 5.61 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
Date, signature
USA
In January 2012, Cincinnati (Ohio) resident Mark Byron was charged with making offensive comments on Facebook about his wife, from whom he was in the process of divorcing. In part, he wrote: "...If you are an angry, vindictive woman who wants to ruin your husband's life and completely rob your son of his father, then all you have to do is say that you are afraid of your husband or partner..." . For his words, Byron was required to post an apology on his Facebook page every day for 30 days.
In the spring of 2021, San Francisco (California) musician Robert Peralta was fined $2,500 for “making threatening statements toward law enforcement.” In a Facebook comment, Peralta, discussing the actions of a local sheriff's deputy, wrote: "Let's burn this bastard's house down."
On August 2, 2021, Akron (Ohio) resident Terrence McNeil received 20 years in prison for calling for the murder of American military personnel. On September 24, 2015, he posted a GIF on his Tumblr blog with the captions: “Islamic State Hacking Unit,” “Target: US Military,” and “Leaked: Addresses of 100 US Military Personnel.”
Insult lawyer in Yekaterinburg
Consulting an administrative law lawyer will give you the answer. Situations often occur in life when you really want to respond to an insult or punish another person for it.
But in this situation, you need to be guided by the law, not your fists. Knowledge of Russian legislation is necessary in order to be able to teach the offender a “lesson” using the legal method. The question of whether it is possible to punish a person for an insult worries many people. Let's solve it with the help of an insult lawyer from the Law Office "Katsailidi and Partners" today!
