The Millennium Team company is suing N1 reporter Maja Nikolic demanding jail time instead of a fine over a report on its acquisition of a defunct hotel in New Belgrade.
Millenium Team, a company alleged to have close ties to the Serbian regime, is claiming that Nikolic inflicted harm on its business reputation and credit worthiness with her January 15 story on the N1 portal about the acquisition of the hotel Jugoslavija and the subsidies received from the government.
The company is claiming that Nikolic “presented false information about the company’s operations” and that she intended to harm its reputation. The disputed parts of the article question the allocation of state subsidies, including claims that the government “helps the richest” and that the purchase of the hotel with subsidies effectively amounted to a “gift.”
The filing called the court to hear company representatives, and review the disputed article, and demanded a 1 year jail sentence for Nikolic.
Lawsuits against journalists as a practice
This case raises the issue of the practice of filing criminal lawsuits against journalists for their reporting on matters of public interest. This is not the first time this has happened in Serbia – an editor and a journalist from the Nova newspaper were also sued by the same company.
Rade Djuric, a legal expert from the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), said proving intent to damage someone’s reputation is hard to prove.
“That is quite difficult, especially in cases like this (Nova) about a lawsuit dealing with public interest. The issue is that journalists were writing about what is in the public interest,” he said, adding that it is not important to the plaintiffs whether the process ends in their favor. “What matters is that they victimize you, that you are left waiting to see what will happen. And you are not sure how to behave — these are the consequences when media outlets turn to self-censorship or censorship,” he said.
Millennium Team has been engaged in a number of public projects in Serbia. It has “flooded” two small media outlets in southern Serbia with lawsuits demanding millions in damages in 2021. The portals Infovranjske and Jugpres from Leskovac were sued by company directors over the same report and statements reported from a press conference by the opposition People’s Party which included claims for damages totaling €300,000. The company later demanded an additional €20,000 from Vranjske and another €40,000 from Jugpres.
Journalists from the investigative portal KRIK were also under similar legal pressure. A criminal complaint was filed against its journalist Sofija Bogosavljev by the company “Starting,” one of the main subcontractors on the Novi Sad railway station building where a canopy collapsed, killing 16 people. The complaint was withdrawn in December 2025, ending the proceedings.
Journalists’ associations in Serbia have previously warned that such cases may have an intimidating effect on the media and restrict freedom of reporting.
Source: N1
