Cases & Projects
MLDI wins criminal libel case before Bermuda's Supreme Court
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21. June 2011 The Bermudan Supreme Court has ruled that the country's criminal libel law violates the right to freedom of expression, adopting arguments made before it by MLDI.
On 12 August 2011, the Bermuda Supreme Court declared Bermuda's criminal libel statute unconstitutional because it criminalises trivial and non-intentional libel, and lacks safeguards to prevent abuse. The Court referred to MLDI's submissions as "very helpful" and found the jurisprudence we cited "highly persuasive".
The case originated out of a dispute regarding comments uploaded onto Facebook. Criminal charges were brought against the poster of the comments, who in turn challenged the constitutionality of the country's criminal libel statute.
MLDI decided to intervene in the Bermudan case to point out the wider principle at stake and help set a precedent for other common law countries: criminal libel laws are widely abused by repressive governments around the world to silence critical voices in the media.
The Court's judgment in Raynor v Richardson can be downloaded here.
MLDI's submissions, drafted by Heather Rogers QC, can be downloaded here.
