Swiss Criminal Code

1. Any per­son who in ad­dress­ing a third party, makes an ac­cus­a­tion against or casts sus­pi­cion on an­oth­er of dis­hon­our­able con­duct or of oth­er con­duct that is li­able to dam­age an­oth­er's repu­ta­tion,

any per­son who dis­sem­in­ates such ac­cus­a­tions or sus­pi­cions,

is li­able on com­plaint to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.²

2. If the ac­cused proves that the state­ment made or dis­sem­in­ated by him cor­res­ponds to the truth or that he had sub­stan­tial grounds to hold an hon­est be­lief that it was true, he is not li­able to a pen­alty.

3. The ac­cused is not per­mit­ted to lead evid­ence in sup­port of and is crim­in­ally li­able for state­ments that are made or dis­sem­in­ated with the primary in­ten­tion of ac­cus­ing someone of dis­rep­ut­able con­duct without there be­ing any pub­lic in­terest or any oth­er jus­ti­fied cause, and par­tic­u­larly where such state­ments refer to a per­son’s private or fam­ily life.

4. If the of­fend­er re­cants his state­ment, the court may im­pose a more le­ni­ent pen­alty or no pen­alty at all.

5. If the ac­cused is un­able to prove the truth of his state­ment, or if it is shown to be un­true, or if the ac­cused re­cants his state­ment, the court must state this in its judg­ment or in an­oth­er doc­u­ment.