150 hours of community work for online libel and slander

Criminal Court No. 22 of the City of Buenos Aires imposed on Monica Liliana Lang a sanction consisting of150 hours of community service in the non-profit organization Caritas.

The judicial proceedings had been initiated by Marcelo Samuel Frydlewsky, who filed a complaint against Monica Liliana Lang for making defamatory statements in comments posted on Twitter on February 22, 2017, under sections 109 and 110 of the Argentine Criminal Code.

In the conciliatory hearing, the parties reached an agreement under which, in addition to the community service hours, Monica Liliana Lang had to publish the pertinent section of the judicial ruling in La Nación and Clarin newspapers for three days.

This is the first case in which, in the context of criminal proceeding for online libel and slander, the defendant offered to perform community service to avoid the possibility of a criminal sanction.