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 facts or opinions that you believe are defamatory are published in the press or through electronic media, you have a right to ask that media to retract the untrue statements of fact or publish an apology for the defamatory opinion within six months from the date of publication. 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.
The editor of the media has to assess your complaint within seven days of the date he/she received it. If he/she agrees to retract the untrue facts or apologize for the defamatory opinions, 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 retraction should be published in the same typestyle and on the same page as it was originally printed.
Civil claim
You may bring a civil claim to the court against the author and disseminator of the defamatory expressions. You can also bring this claim if you have already asked the relevant media to retract the information 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 an apology for the defamatory opinions
- request for the retraction of the untrue statements
- a claim for monetary compensation
If you are asking for compensation, you should indicate to the court why you are asking for that amount specifically.