Spain Defamation Laws: Civil, Criminal & Defences

Defamation in Spain is both a crime and a civil wrong. The Spanish Penal Code criminalises calumnia (falsely accusing someone of a crime, Articles 205 to 207) and injurias (insults that harm dignity, Articles 208 to 210), while Organic Law 1/1982 lets a person sue civilly to protect their honour, privacy, and image.

For the full Spain-depth treatment, see the dedicated Spain defamation section: injurias y calumnias element by element, and the concept pages on calumnia and injuria.

What counts as defamation in Spain

Spanish law splits criminal defamation into two offences against honour. Calumnia, defined in Article 205 of the Penal Code, is the imputation of a crime made with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard for the truth, so a vague insult is not enough; the speaker must accuse the person of a specific criminal offence. Injuria, defined in Article 208, is an action or expression that harms another person's dignity by damaging their reputation or self-esteem. Article 208 limits the crime to insults that, by their nature, effects, and circumstances, are publicly regarded as grave. Separately, Organic Law 1/1982 of 5 May protects the constitutional rights to honour, personal and family privacy, and one's own image, allowing a civil claim for "illegitimate interference" with those rights even when no crime is charged.

There is no offence in the Penal Code actually called "difamación." Someone searching that word is usually looking for one term to cover being lied about, insulted, or having their reputation damaged, but Spanish criminal law was never built around a single umbrella offence. It built the two narrower ones above instead, plus the separate civil route through Organic Law 1/1982 for reputational harm that does not clear either crime's bar. Picking the wrong route is not just an academic question: because calumnia and injuria prescribe in one year while the civil action allows four (see Limitation period, below), spending time deciding which one applies can determine whether a case can be brought at all.

Civil liability under Organic Law 1/1982

Many defamation disputes in Spain proceed civilly under Organic Law 1/1982, which implements the right to honour guaranteed by Article 18 of the Spanish Constitution. The statute treats untrue or dignity-harming statements as an "illegitimate interference" and lets the affected person seek a court order to stop the interference and restore their rights. Under Article 9.2, courts can order measures to end the interference, prevent further harm, and award compensation. Article 9.5 sets a four-year period (a caducidad, or lapse of the right) running from when the claimant could have brought the action. Spanish courts have generally balanced honour against freedom of expression and information under Article 20 of the Constitution, giving wider latitude to true statements on matters of public interest involving public figures. The civil route does not require a crime at all and carries no gravity threshold, which is why it is often the fallback when a statement was hurtful but does not clearly meet calumnia's or injuria's criminal bar; the criminal character of an intrusion into someone's honour does not by itself prevent a separate civil claim under Article 1.2 of the same law, so the two routes can in principle run side by side.

Criminal defamation and penalties

The Penal Code sets graduated penalties depending on the offence and whether it was spread "with publicity." Article 206 punishes calumnia committed with publicity by prison of six months to two years or a fine of 12 to 24 months, and in other cases by a fine of six to 12 months. For injurias, Article 209 punishes grave insults made with publicity by a fine of six to 14 months, and otherwise by a fine of three to seven months. The Spanish day-fine (multa) system sets a daily amount according to the defendant's means.

Watch out: Criminal defamation in Spain is generally a private offence. Courts have held that prosecution usually requires a complaint (querella) by the offended party, so the case is driven by the victim rather than by the public prosecutor alone. Before that querella can even be filed against a private individual, Article 804 of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Criminal requires a certificate showing that an acto de conciliación between the parties was held, or attempted without success; this precondition applies to both calumnia and injuria, not just one of them, and it takes time that the one-year prescription period keeps running through.

The available defences

Truth is central to the Spanish defences. For calumnia, Article 207 provides that the accused is fully exempt from penalty by proving the criminal act they imputed. For injurias, Article 210 exempts the accused who proves the truth of imputations directed against public officials concerning the exercise of their duties or relating to the commission of criminal or administrative offences. Beyond the Penal Code, the constitutional freedoms of expression and of information in Article 20 operate as a defence: courts have generally protected value judgments and true reporting on matters of public interest, especially about public figures and officials, provided the speech is not gratuitously insulting. Good faith and the public relevance of the information are weighed in this balance.

Remedies and damages

In a criminal case, conviction can carry the fines or imprisonment above plus civil liability for the harm caused. In a civil action under Organic Law 1/1982, Article 9 allows the court to order measures ending the interference and to award compensation for both moral and material damage. Article 9.3 of the law presumes harm once illegitimate interference is proven, and the amount takes into account the circumstances, the seriousness of the harm, and any benefit the wrongdoer obtained, for example from the publication's circulation. Courts can also order publication of the judgment. There is no statutory cap on damages, and amounts are set case by case.

Limitation period

The criminal offences of calumnia and injuria both prescribe (the Spanish term for a limitation period lapsing) after just one year, under Article 131.1 of the Penal Code, which sets that one-year period specifically for injuria and calumnia as an exception to the five-year default for most other crimes. Because the window is so short and a querella against a private individual cannot be filed without first attempting the conciliation step described above, deciding quickly which route fits the facts matters in practice, not just in theory. The civil action under Organic Law 1/1982 lapses four years after the moment the entitled person could have exercised it, under Article 9.5, which gives considerably more room to consult a lawyer, gather evidence, and decide how to proceed.

Online defamation in Spain

Defamatory statements published online, on social media, or in digital media are treated under the same Penal Code offences and the same Organic Law 1/1982 civil action; the medium does not change the underlying wrong. Publication online can satisfy the "with publicity" element that aggravates the criminal penalties under Articles 206 and 209. Liability of online intermediaries and platforms is shaped by EU rules, including the e-Commerce framework and the Digital Services Act, which generally shield hosts that lack knowledge of illegal content but require them to act on valid notice. A claimant can seek removal of content and identification of an anonymous poster through the courts. If a recording is part of the evidence, Spain's participant-recording doctrine generally makes a conversation admissible where the person relying on it took part in it themselves.

How to sue for defamation in Spain

A civil claimant typically files an ordinary action under Organic Law 1/1982 in the civil courts, often joining the public prosecutor where fundamental rights are engaged, and seeks orders to stop the interference plus compensation. The criminal route requires the offended party to file a complaint for calumnia or injurias, and, where the accused is a private individual, an attempted or completed acto de conciliación must be certified before the querella can be filed at all (Article 804 LECrim). Because the choice between the civil and criminal paths affects deadlines, burden of proof, and remedies, anyone considering action should obtain advice from a Spanish lawyer (abogado) on the best route for their facts.

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