How to complain if you believe that you have been a victim of defamation?
If you believe that defamatory statements have been made public about you, there are several ways that you can protect your rights:
Complaint to the media
If the defamatory facts or the public insult against you are published in the press, on the radio, on television or through electronic media, you have the right to ask that media to retract the untrue statements of fact or publish your reply to the defamatory statement within three months from the date of publication.
1. Right of reply
The right of reply allows any person or company named in a media (press, TV, radio, internet) to have their version of the events published in the same media as a response to the initial statements made regarding that person.
In your complaint to the media, you should indicate which facts or information you consider defamatory, as well as the date and place of publication. If the defamatory statement was published in the press, the director of the publication has no obligation to assess your complaint. However, if it was published on the internet, the director of the media has to assess your complaint within three days of the date they received it. If it was published on television or on the radio, this delay is of eight days. If they agree to publish your answer to the defamatory statements, it should be done in the same way that the information was published.
example If the information was initially printed on the first page of a newspaper in bold capital letters, the reply should be published in the same typestyle and on a similar page as it was originally printed, i.e., a page that receives the same publicity as the one containing the disputed statements.
If the media in question refuses to publish your reply, you can take action before the civil court, within three months from the date of the media’s refusal. The court can condemn the media to pay a fine and can oblige it to publish your reply. However, because delays can be long before the civil court, you can also bring your case to the “interim-relief” judge who can order the publication of the reply more quickly.
2. Retractation of illegal statements on the internet
If you wish to have a content removed from the internet because you believe it is illegal, you should follow certain steps:
1. Request to the author of the content
You should first request the removal from the author of the content, who is the person responsible for the website.
2. Request to the web hosting service
If the author refuses to remove the content, you should then contact the web hosting service. Many web hosting services have their own conditions for removing content, therefore you will need to go through these standard reporting procedures to request the removal of the content.
3. Report to the court
If the host refuses to remove the reported content according to its own procedure, you can report it to the courts. To do so, you must follow a specific procedure and your request must include the following elements: your surname, first name, email address, a description of the disputed content, its precise location on the website, the legal grounds on which the content must be removed and a copy of the first removal request addressed to the author of the content. If you have used this procedure and the web hosting service still does not remove the content (by explicit refusal or by not responding to you), you can file a complaint against them.
If the situation is urgent and your prejudice is obvious, you can also ask the judge an interim measure to have the content removed from the website as quickly as possible. The judge may request the authors of the disputed statement to remove the content online, even if they are not the owners or hosts of the website in question. If the situation is extremely urgent, you can also initiate a special legal proceeding called “référé d’heure à heure”, by which the judge can prohibit within 48 hours the dissemination of an image or illegal content on the internet.
Civil claim
You may bring a civil claim to the court against the author and disseminator of the defamatory expressions. This action is possible if the defamation was made against a private individual but not if it was against certain categories of people (army, public officials, ministers, public administrations).
You can also bring this claim if you have already asked the relevant media to publish your reply to the statement that you believe is defamatory, but the editor has refused to do so. It is also possible to file a civil claim where the defamatory expressions were not published in the media but expressed in front of a considerable audience or otherwise distributed.
The civil remedies which you can claim in a court may include one, or a combination, of the following measures:
- request for the retraction of the untrue statements
- a claim for monetary compensation
- publication of a judicial announcement of the conviction
If you are asking for compensation, you should indicate to the court why you are asking for that amount specifically.
Criminal proceedings
You can request the public prosecutor to initiate criminal proceedings for defamation or insult against the author or disseminator of defamatory expressions. The prosecutor can only open a criminal case for defamatory expressions that are:
- made deliberately
- contain false statements of fact
- expressed in public or made public through the press or other media
Procedure
Your complaint must be directed against the author of the defamatory statements. However, if the statements were published in a media outlet (newspaper, website, radio, etc.), the director of the publication (person in charge of the media) is considered to be the main author. If the director is not the author of the defamatory statements, the real author will be prosecuted as an accomplice.
If the defamatory statement is published on a website, you should file a complaint against the author of the content and not the web hosting service. The web hosting service will be sanctioned only if it is proven that it deliberately uploaded or left online the illegal content.
There are several ways to bring a criminal case:
- Simple criminal complaint: You can file a complaint at the police station or “gendarmerie” who will then forward it to the public prosecutor. You can also file a complaint directly to the public prosecutor by sending a letter to the judicial court.
- Criminal complaint with a civil action (plainte avec constitution de partie civile): in this case the complaint is sent directly to the investigating judge. He/she will conduct an investigation and then refer the case to the criminal court if he/she considers that the defamation is established.
- Direct summons (citation directe) for defamation: if you know the identity and contact details of the author, you can take the matter directly to the criminal court by means of a direct summons. This procedure is quicker, as it avoids the investigation by the investigating judge, however you should clearly indicate in your claim which statements you consider defamatory and why because the Court will not investigate the facts for you.
If the author of the defamation/insult is unknown, you will have to file a complaint against X, whether it is a simple complaint or a complaint with civil action.
Appeal
If the public prosecutor rejects your request to initiate criminal proceedings and you consider that this decision was not well-reasoned, you can appeal it to the general prosecutor of the court of appeal. The procedure and time-limits for the appeal must be indicated in the decision. If the general prosecutor approves of your appeal, he/she can order the public prosecutor to initiate proceedings. You will be informed if he/she considers your appeal unfounded.
Additional civil claim
If the police initiate a criminal case and indict the accused, you may claim the monetary compensation from the accused during the criminal proceedings. However, if your claim for monetary compensation is not fully satisfied within the criminal proceedings, you may bring a separate civil claim.