Hate speech laws in Poland

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The hate speech laws in Poland derive from its Constitution and from its Penal Code. The laws discourage any conduct that foments racial, national, or sectarian hatred. The laws punish those who intentionally offend the feelings of the religious, e.g. by disturbing services or creating public calumny. They also prohibit public expression that insults a person or a group on account of national, ethnic, racial, or religious affiliation or the lack of a religious affiliation.

Contents

Constitution of Poland

Article 54 of the Constitution protects freedom of speech. [1] By its Article 13, the Constitution prohibits political parties and other organizations which have programmes based upon totalitarian methods and the modes of activity of nazism, fascism, and communism. Article 13 further prohibits any programmes or activities which promote racial or national hatred. Article 35 gives national and ethnic minorities the right to establish educational and cultural institutions and institutions designed to protect religious identity. [2]

Criminal Code of Poland

Article 196 makes anyone found guilty of intentionally offending religious feelings through public calumny of an object or place of worship liable to a fine, a restriction of liberty, or to imprisonment for a maximum of two years. [2]

Article 256 makes anyone found guilty of promoting a fascist or other totalitarian system of state or of inciting hatred based on national, ethnic, racial, or religious differences, or for reason of the lack of any religious denomination, liable to a fine, a restriction of liberty, or to imprisonment for a maximum of two years. [2]

Article 257 makes anyone found guilty of publicly insulting a group or a particular person because of national, ethnic, racial, or religious affiliation or because of the lack of any religious denomination liable to a fine, a restriction of liberty, or to imprisonment for a maximum of three years. [2]

Broadcasting Act (29 December 1992)

Article 18, paragraph 2 states that programmes or other broadcasts shall respect the religious beliefs of the public and respect especially the Christian system of values. Article 16b, paragraph 3 forbids the use of contents which are discriminatory on the grounds of race, gender, nationality, ethnic background, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. [2]

Selected cases

On 13 December 2019, the police arrested Jacek Miedlar for violating the Criminal Code on the grounds of, "inciting hatred against Jews and Holocaust denial." The prosecutors cited a November 2017 speech Jacek gave in Wrocław in which he called on his audience to, "be merciless and radical in the fight against...Talmudism." [3]

On 4 May 2010, the police charged singer Doda, whose real name is Dorota Rabczewska, with violating the Criminal Code for saying in 2009 that the Bible was "unbelievable" and written by people "drunk on wine and smoking some kind of herbs". [4] [5]

On 8 March 2010, the police charged vocalist and guitarist Adam Darski, of the Polish blackened death metal band Behemoth, with violating the Criminal Code. The charge arose out of a performance by Behemoth in September 2007 in Gdynia during which Darski allegedly called the Catholic Church "the most murderous cult on the planet", and he tore up a copy of the Bible. [6]

On 28 August 2006, police arrested Leszek Bubel for violating Article 257 of the Criminal Code by publishing anti-Semitic literature. On 7 December 2006, the authorities sent Bubel to a mental hospital in Tworki. [2]

On 14 April 2006, the Jan Karski Association complained that a broadcast on a Catholic radio station defamed the Jewish people and violated Article 257 of the Criminal Code. Prosecutors refused to pursue the matter. [2]

In February 2006, readers complained about an issue of the magazine Machina, which featured the likeness of the singer Madonna superimposed upon a depiction of the Virgin Mary with Jesus. Prosecutors refused to pursue the matter. [2]

On 28 October 2005, a Provincial Court convicted Leszek Bubel of violating Article 257 of the Criminal Code by publishing anti-Semitic literature. The Court sentenced Bubel to a fine. [2]

In December 2001, Members of the League of Polish Families complained that the artwork called "Passion" by Nieznalska was a violation of Article 196 of the Criminal Code. In July 2003, the Provincial Court in Gdańsk found Nieznalska guilty. The court sentenced her to a half-year "restriction of freedom," ordered her to do community work, and required her to pay all trial expenses. On 28 April 2004, the District Court in Gdańsk quashed the previous judgment. [2]

In October 2001, the prosecutor in Kraków received complaints that the movie Dogma violated Article 196 of the Criminal Code. The prosecutor refused to pursue the matter. [2]

In August 1994, the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Poznań received complaints about the magazine Wprost, which featured a cover that had the Virgin Mary and Jesus wearing gas masks. The prosecutor refused to pursue the matter. [2]

Related Research Articles

A hate crime is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership of a certain social group or racial demographic.

Hate speech is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thought to include communications of animosity or disparagement of an individual or a group on account of a group characteristic such as race, colour, national origin, sex, disability, religion, or sexual orientation". A legal definition of hate speech varies from country to country.

Defamation is the oral or written communication of a false statement about another that unjustly harms their reputation and usually constitutes a tort or crime. In several countries, including South Korea, a true statement can also be considered defamation.

Sedition and seditious libel were criminal offences under English common law, and are still criminal offences in Canada. Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order: if the statement is in writing or some other permanent form it is seditious libel. Libel denotes a printed form of communication such as writing or drawing.

Volksverhetzung, in English "incitement to hatred", "incitement of popular hatred", "incitement of the masses", or "instigation of the people", is a concept in German criminal law that refers to incitement to hatred against segments of the population and refers to calls for violent or arbitrary measures against them, including assaults against the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously maligning, or defaming segments of the population.

Incitement to racial or ethnic hatred is a crime under the laws of several countries.

Freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Denmark are ensured by § 77 of the constitution:

Legality of Holocaust denial

Sixteen European countries and Israel have laws against Holocaust denial, the denial of the systematic genocidal killing of approximately six million Jews in Europe by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. Many countries also have broader laws that criminalize genocide denial. Among the countries that ban Holocaust denial, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania also ban other elements associated with Nazism, such as the display of Nazi symbols.

Freedom of speech is the concept of the inherent human right to voice one's opinion publicly without fear of censorship or punishment. "Speech" is not limited to public speaking and is generally taken to include other forms of expression. The right is preserved in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is granted formal recognition by the laws of most nations. Nonetheless the degree to which the right is upheld in practice varies greatly from one nation to another. In many nations, particularly those with authoritarian forms of government, overt government censorship is enforced. Censorship has also been claimed to occur in other forms and there are different approaches to issues such as hate speech, obscenity, and defamation laws.

Speech crimes are certain kinds of speech that are criminalized by promulgated laws or rules. Criminal speech is a direct preemptive restriction on freedom of speech, and the broader concept of freedom of expression.

Blasphemy law Law prohibiting blasphemy

A blasphemy law is a law prohibiting blasphemy, where blasphemy is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred things, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. According to Pew Research Center, about a quarter of the world's countries and territories (26%) had anti-blasphemy laws or policies as of 2014.

The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria prohibits blasphemy against Islam by using legislation rather than by using Sharia. The penalty for blasphemy may be years of imprisonment as well as a fine. Every Algerian child has an opportunity to learn what blasphemy is because Islam is a compulsory subject in public schools, which are regulated jointly by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

The hate speech laws in Australia give redress to someone who is the victim of discrimination, vilification, or injury on grounds that differ from one jurisdiction to another. All Australian jurisdictions give redress when a person is victimised on account of colour, ethnicity, national origin, or race. Some jurisdictions give redress when a person is victimised on account of colour, ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender identity, HIV/AIDS status or sexual orientation.

The Jewish community of Oslo et al. v. Norway was a case decided by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2005.

The trial of Geert Wilders, a member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, took place in the Netherlands in 2010 and 2011. Wilders was accused of criminally insulting religious and ethnic groups and inciting hatred and discrimination. He was found not guilty in June 2011.

Hate speech laws in England and Wales are found in several statutes. Expressions of hatred toward someone on account of that person's colour, race, disability, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation is forbidden. Any communication which is threatening or abusive, and is intended to harass, alarm, or distress someone is forbidden. The penalties for hate speech include fines, imprisonment, or both.

The hate speech laws in France are matters of both civil law and criminal law. Those laws protect individuals and groups from being defamed or insulted because they belong or do not belong, in fact or in fancy, to an ethnicity, a nation, a race, a religion, a sex, a sexual orientation, or a gender identity or because they have a handicap. The laws forbid any communication which is intended to incite discrimination against, hatred of, or harm to, anyone because of his belonging or not belonging, in fact or in fancy, to an ethnicity, a nation, a race, a religion, a sex, a sexual orientation, or a gender identity, or because he or she has a handicap.

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination United Nations convention and human rights instrument

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a United Nations convention. A third-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races. The Convention also requires its parties to outlaw hate speech and criminalize membership in racist organizations.

Hate speech is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thought to include communications of animosity or disparagement of an individual or a group on account of a group characteristic such as race, colour, national origin, sex, disability, religion, or sexual orientation".

Offending religious feelings (Poland) Polish blasphemy law

Offending religious feelings is a blasphemy law in Poland. According to Article 196 of the Penal Code: "Whoever offends the religious feelings of other persons by publicly insulting an object of religious worship, or a place designated for public religious ceremonies, is liable to pay a fine, have his or her liberty limited, or be deprived of his or her liberty for a period of up to two years."

References

  1. ↑ "The Constitution of the Republic of Poland". 2 April 1997. Retrieved 26 May 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Venice Commission (2008). "Analysis of the Domestic Law Concerning Blasphemy, Religious Insult and Inciting Religious Hatred in Albania, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Turkey, United Kingdom on the Basis of Replies to a Questionnaire" (PDF). Council of Europe. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. ↑ Tilles, Daniel (19 February 2020). "Polish far-right leader indicted for antisemitic hate speech and Holocaust denial". notesfrompoland.com. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  4. ↑ Day, Matthew (5 May 2010). "Pop star claims Bible written by drunks". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 May 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  5. ↑ "Polish pop singer charged over Bible remarks". CalcuttaTube. 5 May 2010. Archived from the original on 10 May 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  6. ↑ Adam Darski
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