-43their image and reputation, the culprit will be sentenced to a prison term of from six (6) months to one ( 1) year and a fine of 150 000 to 1, 500,000 CFA francs. 158. The European Court points out that criminal defamation laws should be used only as a last resort, when there is a serious threat to the enjoyment of other human rights 28 . According to this Court, the exceptional circumstances justifying a prison term are for example, the case of hate speech or incitement to violence 29 . It was of the view that the use of civil proceedings in defamation cases should be preferred to criminal proceedings. 30 159. As for the Inter-American Court, it holds that States should use these laws only as a last resort 31 and rejected imprisonment for defamation, considering it as disproportionate and in violation of freedom of expression 32 • 160. On this score, the U.N. Human Rights Commission recals that some international bodies have condemned any attempts at custodial sentence, both in the specific case of defamation as, in general, the peaceful expression of an opinion 33 . It cites the example of the Human Rights Commission which, since 1994, has expressed concern over the risk of custodial sanctions in cases of defamation in certain countries 34 . 28 ECHR, Gavrilovic v. Moldavia, Application No. 25464/05 (2009), para 60 29 ECHR, Cumpana and Mazare v. Romania, Application No. 33348/96 92004), para 115; ECHR, Mahmudov and Agazade v. Azerbaijan, Application No. 38577/04 (2008), para 50 30 ECHR, Lehideux et Isorni v. France, September 1998, para 57; ECHR, Radio France and all v. France, Application No. 53984/00 (2004), para 40; ECHR, Raichinov v. Bulgaria, Application No. 47579/99 (2006), para 50; ECHR, Kubaszewski v. Poland, Application No. 571/04 (2010), para 45; ECHR, Mahmudov and Agazade v. Azerbaijan, Application No. 35877/04 (2008), para 50; ECHR, Lyashko v. Ukraine, Application No. 210/40/02 (2006), para 41 (f); ECHR, Fedchanko v. Russia, Application No. 33333/04 (2010); ECHR, Krutov v. Russia, Application 15469/04 (2009); ECHR, Lombardo eta!. v. Malta, Application No. 7333/06 (2007) 31 IACHR, Trisant Donoso v. Panama, Series C, No. 193 (2009), para 20 32 see inter alia, IACHR, Herrera-Ulloa v. Costa Rica, 2 July 2004, Series C, No. 107, para 124-135; IACHR, Palamara Iribarne v. Chile, 22 November 2005, Series C, No. 135, para 63; IACHR, Canese v. Paraguay, 31 August 2004, Series C, No. 111, p.104 33 Id 34 Id