Sentence no. 151 of July 12, 2021 of the Constitutional Court follows the referral order no. 132 of 2020 of the same Court. Given that the legislator, within the deadline indicated in the ordinance no. 132/2020, did not reform the criminal treatment of defamation, the Constitutional Court had to intervene directly. The sentence declares the constitutional illegitimacy of art. 13 of law no. 47 of 1948 (periodical press), which provided for a prison sentence together with a pecuniary penalty for the offender of serious defamation. However, art. 595 of the Penal Code is declared legitimate thanks to an interpretation that allows judges to choose imprisonment only in exceptionalcases. These hypotheses are not only those indicated by the European Court of Human Rights (hate speech and violence) but also other types of hypotheses established by judgment no. 150, especially disinformation campaigns that endanger democracy. With this judgment the right to information is brought more into line with the law of the ECHR
La Corte costituzionale rivede la detenzione per la diffamazione tramite i media. Prime note sulla sentenza n. 150 del 2021
Carlo Magnani
2021
Abstract
Sentence no. 151 of July 12, 2021 of the Constitutional Court follows the referral order no. 132 of 2020 of the same Court. Given that the legislator, within the deadline indicated in the ordinance no. 132/2020, did not reform the criminal treatment of defamation, the Constitutional Court had to intervene directly. The sentence declares the constitutional illegitimacy of art. 13 of law no. 47 of 1948 (periodical press), which provided for a prison sentence together with a pecuniary penalty for the offender of serious defamation. However, art. 595 of the Penal Code is declared legitimate thanks to an interpretation that allows judges to choose imprisonment only in exceptionalcases. These hypotheses are not only those indicated by the European Court of Human Rights (hate speech and violence) but also other types of hypotheses established by judgment no. 150, especially disinformation campaigns that endanger democracy. With this judgment the right to information is brought more into line with the law of the ECHRI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
