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A r g e n t i n a 7.
CRIMINAL LIBEL, CIVIL DEFAMATION: SLANDER AND LIBEL These crimes are typified in the Penal Code under the following
articles: Article 109: ?Slander or false accusation of a crime that sets
the basis for public process shall be repressed with a prison term
of one to three years.? 22 Article 110: ?He who dishonors or discredits someone else shall
be sanctioned with a fine of one thousand Argentine pesos to one
hundred thousand Argentine pesos or a prison term of one month to
one year.? 23 Article 111: ?The person accused of libel can only prove the
truth of the accusation in the following cases: 1) If the accusation
would have had the purpose of defending or guaranteeing a current
issue of public interest; 2) If the fact attributed to the offended
person should have led to a penal process; 3) If the plaintiff were
to request proof of the accusation directed at him. In these cases,
if the truth of the accusations were to be proved, the accused would
be exempt from punishment.? 24 Article 112: ?The accused of slander or ambiguous libel or
deceit who refuses during trial to give satisfactory explanations
to the effect, shall be sanctioned with the minimum to a half of
the punishment related to manifest slander or libel.? 25 Article 113: ?He who should publish or reproduce, by any means,
defamatory statements inferred by another shall be repressed as
the author of the libel or slander involved.? 26 Article 114: ?When the libel or slander has been spread in
the capital and national territories through the press, its authors
shall be subject to the sanctions of this code and the judge or
court shall order, as requested by the accuser, that the editors
insert in their respective printed matter or newspapers, at the
expense of the guilty party, the text of the sentence or a satisfaction.?
27 Article 115: ?The defamation professed by the civil parties,
in the briefs, speeches or reports produced before the courts and
not publicized, shall be subject only to the corresponding disciplinary
corrections.? 28 Article 116: ?When the defamation is reciprocal, the court
can, according to the circumstances, declare both or one of the
parties exempt from sanction.? 29 Article 117: ?The party guilty of libel or slander against
an individual or association shall be exempt from punishment, if
he retracts publicly, before contesting the accusation or while
doing so.? 30 All above-stated violations of law are of private action and
as such are extinguished with the wronged party?s waiver, in accordance
with Articles 59 and 73 of the Penal Code.31 The violations
of law of private action are also regulated in Chapter 1, Section
1 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Nation. 32 A violation of law against freedom of the press contemplated
in Article 161 is of special interest. It points out that: ?He who
obstructs or blocks the free circulation of a book or newspaper
shall suffer a prison term from one to six months.? 33 It is worth mentioning that advocating criminal behavior, as
established in Article 213 of the Penal Code, punishes with a month
to a year in prison, any person responsible for actions such as
publicly or by any means advocating a crime or a person condemned
of the crime.34 Article 124 of the Penal Code establishes a prison term of
15 days to one year for those persons who publish, fabricate or
reproduce obscene books, writings, images or objects or who exhibit,
distribute or circulate them.?35 It is important to highlight Article 49 of the Penal Code,
which exempts from criminal liability as participants in a crime
?those persons who solely provided the author of the text or recording
the material cooperation required for its publication, broadcast
or sale.?36 Law 23,592 which addresses discrimination, orders in its Article
2 to increase to a third the minimum and to one half the maximum
of the penal scale for all violations of law contemplated by the
Penal Code or complementary laws when they are committed because
of persecution or hatred toward a race, religion or nationality,
or with the purpose of destroying, in whole or in part, a national
ethnic, racial or religious group.36 The Civil Code also makes reference of these violations of
law in the following articles: Article 1089: ?If the violation of law is of any type of slander
or libel, the offended party shall only have the right to demand
monetary compensation, if he were able to prove that the slander
or libel caused some effective damage or loss of an appreciable
amount of money, as long as the guilty party does not prove the
truth of the accusation.?37 Article 1090: ?If the violation of law were a slanderous accusation,
the offender shall, in addition to the compensation detailed in
the previous article, pay the offended party all monies in his defense,
plus all the earnings lost as a result of the slanderous accusation,
without detriment of the fines or penalties established by criminal
law for the violation of law established in this article and also
for those established by this chapter.?38 Article 1096: ?Award of damages caused by a violation of law
can only be demanded through civil action independently of the criminal
action.?39 Article 1099: ?In the case of violations of law that caused
only moral harm, such as slander or defamation, the civil action
does not pass on to the universal heirs, unless it had been filed
by the deceased.?40
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