As a high-ranking political official, former Chief of Police, former senior intelligence officer, Secretary General and later Deputy President of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), as well as Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Milijan Brkić used the political power he held until leaving politics in 2020 to file lawsuits against media outlets in an attempt to silence them.
This is the assessment of the Zagreb County Court, which, ruling on an appeal by Hanza Media in one of the cases concerning Brkić’s lawsuits over articles published about him in Jutarnji list, found that his lawsuits were not aimed at protecting his personal rights but were instead “strategic lawsuits against public participation” – so-called SLAPP lawsuits, reports Jutarnji list.
This ruling was issued in mid-March this year by a panel of the Zagreb County Court chaired by Judge Gabriela Topić Kordej, in a case concerning Brkić’s claim for damages related to an article from early October 2018 addressing the “elite prostitution” scandal from 2011.
Brkić sought financial compensation for alleged violations of his rights to privacy, family life, dignity, reputation, and honor following the publication of a Jutarnji list article on October 3, 2018. The front-page headline read: “Showdown Over Brkić; After the SMS Messages, the 2011 Affair Resurfaces; Did the Second Man of HDZ Tip Off Prostitutes That They Were Under Investigation?” The accompanying article was titled “Brkić Deep Throat?” with the highlighted subheading: “Police reported a breach in covert measures during the prostitution investigation, the State Attorney’s Office investigated. Who halted the operation?”
In his lawsuit, Brkić objected to the publication of his photographs and to being identified as the person who allegedly warned suspects in the 2011 elite prostitution case that they were under investigation, thereby undermining the police inquiry. He also challenged claims that “the State Attorney’s Office had been informed about the breach of investigative measures in the summer of 2011, and that Brkić was mentioned in official records as the person who leaked information about police investigations to individuals from criminal circles, on two occasions.” He further disputed reporting that, based on a statement by the Ministry of the Interior regarding the investigation into elite prostitution, the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia bore responsibility for the fact that no criminal proceedings were ever initiated against him.
“At the time we published the article, in October 2018, Brkić was one of the most influential figures in the HDZ. He requested a correction, which we published, but still decided to sue the publisher. The first-instance court took into account that correction, the fact that we were neither the first nor the only outlet to report serious suspicions about the compromise of the elite prostitution investigation, that the claims were presented as questions, and that there was public interest in the information. Nevertheless, it did not recognize the lawsuit as a SLAPP but concluded that we had violated Brkić’s personal rights and awarded him financial compensation,” the Jutarnji list article states.
The County Court overturned that decision and, at the outset, emphasized that the right to freedom of expression is guaranteed by the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, and the Media Act.
The full article is available on Jutarnji list.