October the 1st, 2024 – Croatian journalists and the media as a whole are still victimised by SLAPP lawsuits. Designed solely to intimidate and silence, Croatia has the highest number in the entire EU.
As 24sata/Hina writes, SLAPP lawsuits are baseless lawsuits that are most often initiated by powerful individuals and are aimed at intimidating and silencing critical voices in the public, especially journalists. They’re a huge burden to the profession for Croatian journalists in particular.
Of the 1,333 court decisions in cases against Croatian journalists and media publications from 2016 to 2023, about 40 percent have at least one SLAPP lawsuit indicator. This shocking information was revealed on Monday at the presentation of research by the Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND) and the Miko Tripalo Centre for Democracy and Law.
how are croatian journalists victimised by slapp lawsuits?
“SLAPP lawsuits are the intimidation of journalists – especially at the local level and the imposition of censorship. They’re among the biggest dangers for the journalistic profession. Unfortunately, Croatia is the worst country in the entire EU when it comes to SLAPP lawsuits, and the judges themselves stand out among the plaintiffs,” stated HND President Hrvoje Zovko.
He added that the HND advocates the decriminalisation of acts against honour and reputation, believing that this would reduce the pressure of SLAPP lawsuits. He also assessed the current inertness in solving this problem to be “systematic state terror over the public interest”.
Vedran Đulabić from the Miko Tripalo Centre said that SLAPP lawsuits are extremely negative and directed against Croatian journalists and fighters for the freedom of expression. Ivan Novosel from the House of Human Rights and Maria Ordzhonikidze from the Justice for Journalists Foundation spoke about various aspects of the recommendations of the latest Report on the Rule of Law of the European Commission and about the opportunities for improving and strengthening media freedom in Croatia.
long procedures and huge sums of cash
The results and conclusions of the research were presented by Ivana Zeljko and Neven Mates from the Miko Tripalo Centre. They state that the total amount of the claims in the aforementioned lawsuits amounts to 3.93 million euros, and the awarded amount is slightly more than 890,000 euros.
Of the 1,333 judgments against Croatian journalists and the media, more than 500 of them have some of the indicators of a SLAPP lawsuit. Most (283 of them in total) have an excessive (compensation) claim, 194 of them were filed by a powerful individual, 56 of them were filed by a public figure, and the twelve observed SLAPP indicators relate to to the lack of jurisdiction of the court or total failure to respond.
It was pointed out that the average duration of such procedures is a ridiculous 44 months, and in cases where the merits of the request have been decided, the average duration of the procedure is as long as 1,557 days.
It was also assessed that the problem lies in both uneven court practices, the problem of “serial plaintiffs” and that second-instance courts often lower the awarded fees.
croatia has the highest number of slapp lawsuits in the eu, but their number is decreasing
Lawyer Vanja Jurić, a member of the European Commission’s expert group for combating SLAPP lawsuits, said that the number of SLAPP lawsuits against Croatian journalists is very high compared to other European countries. However, it does appear that there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of such procedures initiated.
“That being said, we still have rather inconsistent judicial practice in respect to and at the level of different courts. In the higher courts, the situation is somewhat better, but in those higher courts there’s still a great deal of misunderstanding about media freedom in Croatia in general,” warned Vanja Jurić.
Petra Jurina and Fadila Bahović from the Ministry of Justice, Administration and Digital Transformation, representatives of the Judicial Academy and the Office of the Ombudsman, 24sata journalist Ivan Pandžić and director of the Directorate for Media and Development of Cultural and Creative Industries at the Ministry of Culture and Media Jasna Vaniček Fila all participated in the discussion.
