Panama Defamation Laws: Civil & Criminal

Defamation in Panama is both a criminal offence and a source of civil liability. The Penal Code punishes crimes against honour in its chapter on delitos contra el honor, with injuria in Article 193 and calumnia in Article 194, both carrying day-fines, and higher penalties (including possible imprisonment) where the statement is spread through an information system or social media. Truth is a defence, and a victim may also recover civil damages.

What counts as defamation in Panama

Panama groups defamation under delitos contra el honor (crimes against honour) in its Penal Code and recognises two core offences. Injuria is offending the dignity, honour, or decorum of a person by words, writing, or other means. Calumnia is falsely attributing to a person the commission of a crime, a more serious form of attack on reputation. Both require intent (dolo), and courts have generally held that the offence protects a person's honour and reputation against statements that dishonour or discredit them. The chapter on crimes against honour sits in the Penal Code around Articles 190 onward, with the operative offences of injuria and calumnia set out in Articles 193 and 194 respectively. Statements that are mere criticism of a public servant's official conduct fall outside these offences.

Criminal defamation and penalties

The two honour offences carry day-fine penalties at the base level and stiffer penalties when committed publicly through technology. Article 193 punishes injuria with sixty to one hundred twenty day-fines. Article 194 punishes calumnia with ninety to one hundred eighty day-fines. The Penal Code adds an aggravation: where either offence is committed through an oral or written social medium or by using an information system, the penalty for injuria becomes six to twelve months' imprisonment or its equivalent in day-fines, and for calumnia twelve to eighteen months' imprisonment or its equivalent in day-fines. Panama also partially decriminalised certain attacks involving high public officials in earlier reforms, narrowing where the honour offences apply.

Watch out: Publishing the same statement online rather than offline is treated as an aggravating circumstance in Panama, so a defamatory social-media post can expose the author to imprisonment where an equivalent spoken remark would draw only a day-fine.

The defences

The central defence is exceptio veritatis, the exception of truth. A person accused of these crimes is exempt from penalty by proving the truth of the facts imputed, so a defendant who establishes that the statement was true is not punished. A public retraction accepted by the victim can also absolve the defendant of criminal responsibility. In addition, the Penal Code provides that discussions, criticisms, and opinions about the official acts or omissions of public servants do not constitute injuria or calumnia, and that where the offended party is a covered public official no criminal penalty is imposed (though civil liability may still apply). Courts have generally held that these provisions protect speech on matters of public interest and the conduct of officials.

Civil liability and remedies

A defamatory statement can give rise to civil liability in addition to, or instead of, criminal consequences. The Penal Code provides that civil liability derived from the crime does not end with completion of the criminal sentence and is extinguished only in the manner determined by the Civil Code, so a victim may pursue compensation for the harm to reputation. Even where a public-official exemption removes the criminal penalty, the Code preserves the possibility of civil liability. Courts have generally assessed such compensation under the Civil Code rules on damages, and a retraction or correction may also form part of the resolution of a dispute.

Limitation period

The time to act on the criminal offence is governed by the Penal Code rules on prescripcion (statute of limitations), under which the period for the extinction of the criminal action is generally tied to the maximum penalty for the offence charged. Because the honour offences carry relatively low penalties, the prescription period is correspondingly short, and the offended person must file the private complaint promptly. As of 2026, anyone considering a defamation case in Panama should confirm the current prescription period applicable to injuria and calumnia before relying on it. Civil liability arising from the offence follows the separate prescription rules of the Civil Code.

Online defamation

Panama directly addresses online defamation by treating publication through an information system or social media as an aggravating factor. Where injuria or calumnia is committed through such means, the Penal Code raises the penalty from a day-fine to a term of imprisonment (or its day-fine equivalent), reflecting the greater reach and permanence of online statements. The same definitions of injuria and calumnia apply, so a defamatory post, comment, or message can be prosecuted, with the online element increasing the exposure. There is no general carve-out that exempts social-media speech, and the public-official and truth defences apply online just as they do offline.

Watch out: Because the online aggravation can convert a day-fine offence into a potential prison term, the choice to publish a contested claim on a social platform in Panama materially raises the legal stakes.

How a defamation claim is brought

Crimes against honour in Panama are private-action offences, so the case is initiated by the offended person filing a querella (private criminal complaint) rather than by a public prosecutor acting on their own. The complainant drives the action, and an accepted public retraction can resolve it without a penalty. A victim may also pursue the civil liability flowing from the offence under the Civil Code, either alongside the criminal process or separately. Throughout, the defences of truth and the protection for criticism of officials' official conduct shape whether a case can succeed, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has repeatedly urged Central American states, including Panama, to narrow the use of criminal defamation against journalists.