What is hate speech?

Hate speech is determined as a type of speech expressing discriminatory prejudice based on certain personal characteristics, as are:

  • race,
  • religion,
  • sex,
  • gender,
  • ethnic affiliation,
  • nationality,
  • sexual orientation and
  • physical or mental disability.

Legal basis

1. The Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia

Prohibition of Incitement to Discrimination and Intolerance and Prohibition of Incitement to Violence and War

Article 63

Any incitement to national, racial, religious or other discrimination, and the inflaming of national, racial, religious or other hatred and intolerance are unconstitutional.

Any incitement to violence and war is unconstitutional.

2. The Penal Code of the Republic of Slovenia KZ-1

Publically inciting hatred, violence and intolerance

 

Article 297

  1. Whoever publicly provokes or stirs up ethnic, racial, religious or other hatred, dissention or intolerance, or incites to other inequality shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than two years.
  2. Whoever publicly disseminates ideas on the supremacy of one race over another, assists in racist activities or denies, reduces the significance of, deride, approves of or advocates genocide, holocaust, crime against humanity, war crime, aggression or other crimes against humanity, shall be subject to the same sentence.
  3. If the offence under the preceding paragraphs has been committed by publication in media, editor or the person who has acted for editor shall be sentenced to sentence from first or second paragraph of this Article, except in the case of live broadcast when acts from previous paragraphs have not been able to thwart.
  4. If the offence under the preceding paragraph has been committed by coercion, maltreatment, endangering of security, desecration of national, ethnic or religious symbols damaging of the movable property of another, desecration of monuments or memorial stones or graves, the perpetrator shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than three years.
  5. If offences from first or second paragraph of this Article has been committed by official through the abuse of his position or rights shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years.
  6. Material and objects bearing messages from the first paragraph of this Article, and all devices intended for their manufacture, multiplication and distribution, shall be confiscated or their use disabled in an appropriate manner.

International documents