OSCE media freedom representative asks Poland to remove prison sentences from libel law
VIENNA, 25 January 2005 - The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, expressed his concern about recent cases in Poland in which journalists have been sentenced to prison terms for criminal libel.
In a letter to the Polish Minister of Justice Andrzej Kalwas, he said that the current provisions may constitute legal precedents curtailing freedom of the media in Poland in the future.
"The trend in most of the democratic world is to offer less protection to public figures than to private individuals," Miklos Haraszti wrote.
"However, the recently applied Polish speech laws do not even offer equal protection to private individuals and public figures. The latter enjoy an elevated level of protection from criticism. These laws should be repealed."
The case of Jerzy Urban, editor of the magazine Nie, is an example of how Polish speech laws work. On January 14, a Warsaw prosecutor requested that Mr. Urban be sentenced to a 10-month suspended prison term and fined the equivalent of 5,000 Euros for insulting a foreign head of state in an "offensive" editorial. A court in Warsaw is due to give its verdict.
This case follows the sentencing of two Polish journalists to prison terms in May and July last year for slandering a public official. These were the first cases of applying criminal libel in democratic Poland.
Haraszti acknowledged the full independence of the courts deliberating in those cases. However, he expressed his disappointment with the lack of action in trying to change the inadequate libel and insult provisions of the Polish law.
In most EU countries such laws have not been used for many years, even if they remain on the statute book. In this regard, Haraszti recalled that the European Court of Human Rights has on many occasions stated that elevated protection for public officials and applied prison sentences for journalistic opinions were contrary to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
"Our joint recommendation with the freedom of expression Rapporteurs of the United Nations and the Organization of American States, issued in November 2002, states: "Where libel is still a criminal offence, courts should refrain from imposing prison sentences, including suspended ones," wrote the OSCE media freedom representative.
Haraszti urged Polish authorities to put in force a moratorium on the use of the restrictive laws and to introduce laws to decriminalise libel and defamation.