If the court finds that you have overstepped the permissible borders of criticism and defamed another person, the sanctions applied to you must be proportional. Overly severe sanctions can still violate your freedom of expression even if your statements have amounted to defamation.
[example] The amount of compensation for the defamatory expressions should not be so high as to lead the media to insolvency or to deter the particular journalist from reporting on matters of public interest again.
Civil remedies: compensation, apology, retraction
Civil remedies are used most commonly in defamation cases. Civil remedies may include monetary compensation, an obligation to retract the defamatory statements or the publication of the conviction in the press. In choosing the type of remedy or amount of compensation, the courts must balance the gravity of the damage to a person’s reputation and the importance of freedom of expression of the other person.
example If the court of final instance awards compensation which is approximately four times larger than previously awarded by courts in defamation cases, this will not be proportional, unless there are exceptional circumstances justifying such an amount of damages.
Criminal sanctions
Criminal sanctions are the most severe type of penalty, and therefore, they are usually applied for the most serious violations. In French law, defamation and public insults are qualified as criminal offences, which means that they are punished with criminal sanctions. However, they are not as serious as crimes and are instead qualified as misdemeanours. This type of offence can be punished by fines and/or imprisonment, depending on its gravity.
1. Sanctions for defamation
In France, a defamation aimed at a private individual is sanctioned by a fine of 12, 000 euros. If this defamation was made in relation to the individual’s origin, ethnic group, nation, race, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation or disability, the sanction will be a fine of 45,000 euros and/or one year’s imprisonment.
If the defamation was aimed against the courts, the public administrations, the army, or against public officials by reason of their functions (e.g., members of the Parliament, Ministers, President of the Republic), the sanction will be a fine of 45,000 euros.
2. Sanctions for public insults
A public insult directed towards an individual is sanctioned by a fine of 12,000 euros. If the insult was related to the victim’s origin, ethnic group, nation, race, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation or disability, the sanction will be a fine of 45,000 euros and/or one year’s imprisonment.
A public insult aimed at public officials by reason of their functions, or aimed against courts, public administrations or the army will be punished by a fine of 12,000 euros.
Criminal sanctions should be applied only if necessary , because criminal sanctions could deter the media from fulfilling their role in future. Also, prison sentences can only be applied in exceptional circumstances, for example where other fundamental rights have been seriously violated or for statements inciting hatred or violence.