A conference in Belgrade warned that Serbia ranks high in Europe in terms of the number of SLAPP suits against the media and NGOs.
The Anti-SLAPP conference was organized by Partners Serbia, BIRN Serbia, and the CHRIS Network as part of the Anti-SLAPP Initiative Serbia – Strengthening the resilience of civil society and media project with the support of the Delegation of the European Union and the OSCE Mission in Serbia along with the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue.
The OSCE Mission’s acting chief Carolina Hidea told the conference that SLAPP suits are a threat to media freedom, adding that the number of those law suits has grown over the past few years. She said SLAPP suits are filed mainly by business people and politicians against journalists, activists and civil society but warned that not every law suit against journalists is a SLAPP suit.
The EU Delegation’s deputy head Plamena Halacheva said that SLAPPs are intended to exhaust the resources of the people fighting for freedom of expression. She said that Serbia is one of the European countries with the most SLAPP suits on record. According to her, institutions should try to solve the problem.
Source: N1
