Judicial Determination Of Internet Defamation Crime

The crime of defamation is a crime to protect citizens’ right of reputation from being infringed,which belongs to the crime of private prosecution.Traditional defamation relies on newspapers,television,radio and other media to commit crimes.With the rapid development of network technology and the increasing penetration of social life,crimes in cyberspace are increasing rapidly and Internet defamation is also attracting public attention.Compared with traditional defamation crimes,Internet defamation spreads quickly in cyberspace with the characteristics of fast spreading speed,low spreading cost,strong concealment of main body and great harmful consequences.However,the "Cao County Post case in Shandong Province" and "Wang Shuai post case in Lingbao County in Henan Province" also reflect that the traditional criminal law is not able to regulate the Internet defamation,and the "disconnection" of the traditional criminal law in the cyberspace has gradually become an indisputable fact.Therefore,On September 10,2013,the Supreme People’s court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate jointly the issued <Interpretation on Several Issues concerning the application of law in criminal cases such as defamation through information network>.This interpretation clarifies the standard limits for the judicial determination of the Internet defamation offense and the conditions of public prosecution,effectively makes the potential criminal subject of Internet defamation more prudent in his own behavior,and enhances the judicial operability.However,the introduction of this interpretation has also caused widespread controversy in all walks of life,and there are also many difficulties in judicial practice.For example,"the first case in which a junior high school student in Gansu province was detained for Posting more than 500 times","the online real-name prosecutor was prosecuted for defamation" and other cases aroused public doubts and affected judicial credibility.Therefore the purpose of this paper is to through the interpretation of related problems,including clarifying Internet defamation and the relationship between freedom of speech,perfect "Internet defamation of public officials " a case of "serious circumstances",specific to master Internet defamation prosecutions for such problems,in an effort to protect citizen’s reputation at the same time,guide the citizen’s right to exercise the rights of free speech in cyberspace,establish a healthy and orderly network platform of public opinion.Therefore,this paper takes the case of Deng Tao’s defamation of public officials as the perspective to make the following analysis on the judicial determination of Internet defamation.Apart from the introduction,the main body is divided into four parts.The first part,the basic situation of the case,including the introduction of the case and the different opinions on whether Deng Tao is guilty or not,as well as the controversial focus of the case.The focus of controversy mainly includes: first,how to identify Internet defamation,how to distinguish freedom of speech and Internet defamation behavior;second,how to understand and apply the conditions of Internet defamation into crime "serious circumstances";third,how to master the public prosecution standards of Internet defamation.The second part is legal analysis of relevant issues,namely legal analysis of the three controversial points of Deng Tao’s case.The first is the overview of Internet defamation,including the identification basis of Internet defamation and the relationship with freedom of speech.The second is the application status and dispute analysis of the "serious circumstances" of the Internet defamation incrimination condition,which is mainly divided into the specific times of viewing and forwarding to determine whether the "serious circumstances" is reasonable,and whether the determination standard of "serious circumstances" should be improved for defamation of national public officials.Finally,the condition of Internet defamation prosecution "seriously endangers the social order and the national interest" is mastered specifically,including the attention to distinguish the condition of public prosecution from the standard of incrimination,the strict definition of the identity of the object,and the careful examination of the content of defamation.The third part,the judgment of the disputed case.Based on the legal analysis above,the final conclusion is reached on the case of Deng Tao involvement in Internet defamation.First,the speech published by Deng Tao in the 35 We-Chat group has no defamatory purpose,does not violate the right of reputation of others,and does not exceed the bottom line of freedom of speech granted to citizens by the constitution,so it does not belong to defamation behavior.Second,even if Deng Tao constitute defamation behavior,his remarks from the aspect of law form does not meet the "serious circumstances " condition into crime,is essentially did not cause other "serious consequences" in the realistic society,and in view of the state civil servants public service category of defamation,"serious circumstances" standard should be improved,so the Deng Tao’s behavior does not constitute a Internet defamation crime;Third,even if Deng Tao’s case constitutes a crime of defamation,it can be seen from the standards of Internet defamation prosecution and the specific case that the consequences are not up to the harm degree of "serious endangers to social order and national interests",so this case is not a case of public prosecution.The fourth part is the enlightenment of Deng Tao’s case.Through the analysis of this case,we can draw the following enlightenment: first,strengthen the network supervision and protect the citizens’ freedom of speech on the Internet;second,strictly follow the principle of modesty in criminal law.