If the court finds that you have overstepped the permissible borders of criticism and defamed another person or insulted them, the sanctions applied to you must be proportional. Overly severe sanctions can still violate freedom of expression even if your statements have amounted to defamation.
example The amount of compensation for the defamatory expressions should not be so high as to lead the media to insolvency or to deter the particular journalist from reporting on matters of public interest again.
Civil remedies: compensation, apology, retraction
Civil remedies are used most commonly in defamation cases. Civil remedies may include monetary compensation, an obligation to retract the defamatory statements or an apology. In choosing the type of remedy or amount of compensation, the courts must balance the gravity of the damage to a person’s reputation and the importance of freedom of expression of the other person.
example If the court of final instance awards compensation which is approximately four times larger than previously awarded by courts in defamation cases, this will not be proportional, unless there are exceptional circumstances justifying such an amount of damages.
Criminal sanctions
Criminal sanctions are an exception in defamation cases and must be applied very cautiously. Criminal sanctions are the most severe type of penalty, and therefore, they are usually applied for the most serious violations, such as statements inciting hatred or violence.
The penalty for these crimes is determined in ‘’daily amounts’’. The sum of the daily amount is determined taking into account the perpetrator's income and assets and the average expenses necessary for the maintenance of the perpetrator and his family. The daily amount cannot be less than 5.00 euros or more than 2500.00 euros.
According to the Croatian Criminal Code, anyone who insults another will be fined up to ninety daily amounts. Anyone who commits a criminal offense through the press, radio, television, computer system or network, at a public meeting or in another way by which the criminal offense became available to a wider number of people, will be fined up to one hundred and eighty daily amounts. If the offended returns an insult, the court can acquit both perpetrators. If the perpetrator was provoked by the improper behavior of the victim or if the victim accepted his apology before the court for the crime committed, the court can release him from punishment. However, there is no criminal offense of insult if it appeared in a scientific, professional, literary, artistic work or public communication, in the performance of a duty prescribed by law, in political or other public or social activity, in journalistic work or in the defense of rights, and if they did so in the public interest or for other justified reasons.
As regards the criminal offense of defamation, whoever, knowing that it is untrue, makes or conveys an untrue factual statement about someone in front of others that may harm their honor or reputation, will be fined up to three hundred and sixty daily amounts. Whoever commits the crime of defamation through the press, radio, television, computer system or network, at a public meeting or in another way that made it available to a large number of people, will be fined up to five hundred daily amounts.