Criminal offense of defamation

Člankom 3. Ustava Republike Hrvatske poštivanje prava čovjeka svrstano je među najviše vrednote ustavnog poretka Republike Hrvatske i temelj je za tumačenje Ustava. Članak 35. Ustava RH svakomu jamči štovanje i pravnu zaštitu dostojanstva, ugleda i časti. Kaznenopravnu zaštitu tih vrijednosti danas u Republici Hrvatskoj osigurava Kazneni zakon Republike Hrvatske sankcioniranjem kaznenog djela klevete, koju čini: "tko pred drugim za nekoga iznese ili pronese neistinitu činjeničnu tvrdnju koja može škoditi njegovoj časti ili ugledu, znajući da je neistinita." Ovaj rad bavi se razvojem ustavne i zakonske koncepcije zaštite privatnosti na prostoru današnje Hrvatske, preglednom metodom kaznenopravne zaštite dostojanstva, časti i ugleda kroz kazneno djelo klevete u posljednjih stotinjak godina. Dostojanstvo, kao osobita vrijednost čovjeka, kroz kazneno djelo klevete, ali i uvrede, zaštićivano je tijekom povijesti, neovisno od stupnja razvoja društva ili političkog sustava. Pored dostojanstva, kao njegov oblik, ustavima i zakonima zaštićuje se i sloboda izražavanja. Ta ustavna jamstva međusobno se dopunjuju a ponekad i isključuju. Koncepcija kaznenog djela klevete iz KZ/11 onemogućava antinomiju pravne zaštite časti i ugleda i slobode izražavanja.The respect for human rights, by virtue of Article 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, is listed as one of the highest values of the constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia and the basis for interpreting the Constitution. The Article 35 of the Constitution of the RoC guarantees respect for and legal protection of each person’s private and family life, dignity, and reputation. The criminal protection of these values is nowadays guaranteed by the Criminal Code of Republic of Croatia, by sanctioning the criminal offence of defamation, which reads as follows: „whoever knowing that it is untrue, in front of a third party asserts or disseminates a false factual claim about another person which can damage his honour or reputation.“ This paper describes the development of the constitutional and legal concept of protection of privacy on the territory of today's Croatia by survey method of criminal protection of dignity, honour and reputation through criminal offence of defamation. Dignity, as a particular value of a human being, was protected by criminal offence of defamation, but also insult throughout history, despite the level of development of society or political regime. Besides the dignity, as its form, constitutions and laws also protect the freedom of expression. These constitutional guarantees are complementary, but sometimes also exclude each other. The concept of criminal offence of defamation from KZ/11 disables the antinomy of legal protection of honour and reputation and freedom of expression