Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 210

Summary: - Attribution in offences under the Press and Publications Law is established by an affirmative written formulation and also by any formulation, even one expressing doubt, capable of creating in the public’s mind a belief, even temporary, or a supposition or possibility, even temporary, that the alleged matters are true. Rule: The criterion for proof in criminal matters is the judge’s conviction, based on the evidence presented to him, of the accused’s guilt or innocence. He may form his conviction from any evidence or presumption he finds satisfactory, unless the law restricts him to particular evidence that it specifies. Criminal law has not designated any particular evidence for proving offences under the Press and Publications Law. It is also established that attribution in the offence charged, just as it is established by an affirmative written formulation, is also established by any formulation, even one expressing doubt, capable of creating in the public’s mind a belief, even temporary, or a supposition or possibility, even temporary, that the alleged matters are true. Accordingly, no significance attaches to the writing style adopted by the publisher in an effort to evade the consequences of the offence he committed and which is criminalized under the Publications and Press Law. Since it appears from the first-instance judgment, upheld on its grounds by the challenged judgment, that it set out the evidence of guilt which it accepted and relied upon in convicting the appellant, and that evidence is sufficient to support its ruling, the appellant’s argument in this respect amounts to a factual dispute concerning the trial court’s authority to assess the evidence and form its conviction in the case, which may not be revisited or raised before the Court of Cassation.