The Supreme Court ruled that if public interest facts were discussed, a person cannot be punished for defamation against a superior under the Military Criminal Act.
On the 16th of last month, the Supreme Court confirmed the lower court’s acquittal of professional military officer A, who was charged with defamation against a superior. The Supreme Court interpreted that Article 310 of the Criminal Act is also applied by analogy to defamation against superiors under the Military Criminal Act. Article 310 states that defamation offenses based solely on facts that are true and serve the public interest shall not be punished.
Previously, A was prosecuted in 2022 for posting a comment criticizing a superior on an article titled ‘Exhausted British Army remains, head of inspection team suspected of having a different nationality.’ In the comment, A maliciously distorted the content by stating, “The informant believed to be a person is under investigation by the prosecution for harassment, bullying, personnel misconduct, etc., as the chief of the department, and is maliciously defaming the honor of employees and the organization.”
The first-instance military court found A guilty and sentenced him to six months in prison with a one-year probation, but the second-instance court acquitted him citing that it was a statement concerning the public interest.