A significant place among the democratic foundations is the recognition by the state of such immutable freedoms of a person as the honor and dignity of all members of society. Dignity as an ethical category implies the symmetry of the person's internal perception of his own "I" on the one hand, and the respect of society on him on the other. The notion of honor, closely related to dignity, differs in that the personal and public perception of personality is based in this case on the achievements and actions of man. The Constitution of the Russian Federation declares the unconditional right of everyone to protect the inviolability of private life, personal, as well as family secrets, honor and good name. Development of this constitutional norm is given in the Civil Code, article 152 of which establishes the right of citizens to judicial protection in cases where the honor and dignity of a person, his business reputation were under threat . If it is violated by the dissemination of defamatory information, the law places the burden of proof on the person who committed the dissemination of compromising information. The law does not specify what information is considered defamatory, since their allocation lies in the evaluation plane and can only be clarified individually for a particular case when protection of business reputation was required. At the level of clarification of the Plenum of the Supreme Court, discrediting is attributed to information about a citizen committing illegal actions, dishonest acts, dishonest behavior in private or public life, dishonesty in business or politics. It should be borne in mind that it is only about unreliable information, and in case of dissemination of compromising material containing true information, one should not count on judicial protection. What are the ways to protect the legislator in cases where defamation of honor and dignity?
If we are talking about facts that can be verified, then on the basis of Article 152 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a judicial decision on the defendant may impose a duty to compensate for moral and physical suffering (moral damage) caused . If no facts were disseminated in the disseminated information, and only estimated judgments were made, then in order to defend one's honor and dignity, one must rely on oneself. For example, publish in the same or another publication a note with a statement of your own point of view on the topic. If negative information was disseminated in a way that excludes the possibility of identifying the identity of the person responsible for this act, a court decision may publish official material with a refutation. Thus, the good name of a person whose rights to honor and dignity have been violated will be restored. What can you expect from the court, if you need protection of honor and dignity?
Judicial practice of the post-Soviet countries already counts more than a dozen high-profile cases in the field of protection of moral and ethical rights; more substantive is the proof of the moral harm caused compared to Soviet practice, millions of compensation for suffering are paid. All this testifies to the growing importance of the individual for a state that is inherent in a democratic system.