| Country | BH |
| Gender | Group |
| Date | 13/07/2021 |
| City / Location | Sarajevo |
| Type of incident | Other threats to journalists |
| Type of media | online |
| Media name | Žurnal.info |
| Was journalist`s association informed | Yes |
| What was journalists' association reaction | The Steering Committee of BH Journalists Association expressed its concern over the amount of the compensation claim exceeding 170,000 BAM, determined by the Municipal Court in Sarajevo. If the aforementioned verdict becomes final, the payment of that amount could seriously threaten the work of the magazine Žurnal and put into question the existence of the employees of this media, as well as journalist Avdo Avdić. Court decisions on defamation lawsuits with enormously high compensation claims can be interpreted as a direct threat to media freedom and attempts to stifle investigative journalism, but also threaten the reputation of judicial institutions due to justified suspicions that the verdicts are politically motivated and belong to the so-called SLAPP lawsuits. |
On July 7, the Municipal Court in Sarajevo made a first-instance verdict that fined online magazine “Žurnal” and its editors Selvedin Avdić and Eldin Karić, as well as the former journalist of this media outlet, Avdo Avdić, with a total amount of more than 170,000 BAM, without interest. This is a defamation lawsuit filed by Gordan Memija and his company “FotoArt”against the editors and journalists of “Žurnal”. The subject of the lawsuit were articles published by “Žurnal”, in which Memija was linked to members of the international drug cartel.
