It must be stressed in this context that the crime of defamation has a basis in civil law. The means of criminal law are available in the case of defamation where the limits of civil law are not. Criminal law must act only as a last resort for the most serious cases, as the Constitutional Court stated, for example, in II Constitutional Court 474/19, i.e. as ultima racio.
The offence of defamation under Section 184(1) of the Criminal Code is committed by a person who makes a false statement about another that is capable of significantly jeopardising his or her esteem among his or her fellow citizens, in particular by damaging his or her employment, disrupting his or her family relations or causing him or her other serious harm.
In order to be false, the information must be of a nature that can be objectively verified as true or false, i.e. consistent or inconsistent with the facts. The information communicated by the defendant is objectively verifiable.
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