A new report by Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe, CASE, names Serbia as the worst offender in the Balkans in terms of numbers of lawsuits intended to silence or intimidate critics last year.
Serbia was among the European countries with the highest number of so-called Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation in 2023, the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe, CASE, said on Monday.
According to CASE’s database, 1,049 so-called SLAPPs, were filed in Europe over the period 2010 to 2023, with 166 filed in 2023 alone.
Of this 166, “a notable number of SLAPPs were mapped in Italy (26), Romania (15), Serbia (10) and Turkey (10)”, the report said.
From 2010 to 2023, the leading European country by far in terms of SLAPP lawsuit numbers was Poland, with 128 noted. In the Balkans, Serbia came first with 56, followed by Croatia with 55 and Bosnia and Herzegovina with 54.
Slovenia came next with 42, followed by Romania with 40 and Turkey with 38. Lower down the list, Bulgaria saw 19 cases, North Macedonia seven, Albania six, Kosovo five and Montenegro none.
According to CASE’s report, “SLAPPs are increasingly being employed as a form of private censorship”.
“On a rolling basis, CASE is identifying an increasing number of abusive lawsuits that shut down acts of participation, and the list of countries around Europe that are home to such lawsuits is growing,” it says.
According to a report on SLAPP lawsuits in Serbia published in 2022 by Article 19, the American Bar Association Centre for Human Rights and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, NUNS, SLAPPs aim to drain the target’s financial and psychological resources and stifle critical voices, to the detriment of public participation-
BIRN is currently facing four trials in Serbia related to SLAPP lawsuits, three of them connected to the mayor of Belgrade.
In June 2023 Nenad Milanovic, chief of staff of mayor Aleksandar Sapic, filed a lawsuit against BIRN Serbia before the Higher Court in Belgrade, seeking 200.000 dinars (1,705 euros) in damages for mental anguish.
Previously, Sapic himself filed two separate defamation lawsuits against BIRN Serbia, its editor and its journalists in March 2023, claiming that their reporting had damaged his reputation and caused him mental anguish. He seeks six million Serbian dinars (around 50,000 euros) in damages in each case.
Separately, Predrag Koluvija, currently on trial for alleged illicit marijuana production, in February 2023 accused BIRN of incorrectly reporting on one of his court hearings and of damaging his reputation and causing him mental anguish. He is seeking 200,000 dinars (around 1,700 euros) in damages.
CASE was set up as a non-profit coalition of NGOs to expose SLAPPs, encourage resilience and advocate for law reform to protect watchdogs from these lawsuits.
Source: BalkanInsight