Review article
https://doi.org/10.3935/zpfz.74.2.05
Anti-SLAPP Directive: Between the Freedom of Expression and the Right of Access to Court
Stjepan Novak
; Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
SLAPPs are manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings against public participation typically initiated by powerful individuals, lobby groups, corporations and state organs against journalists and human rights defenders. Their purpose is to censor, intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of legal defence until they abandon their criticism or opposition. The Anti-SLAPP Directive is a noteworthy step in the fight against SLAPP despite the ambiguities of some of its key concepts and the fact that they do not actually represent a special novelty in the Croatian legal system. What the directive proposal definitely lacks is insistence on performing the journalistic profession in accordance with the highest principles of the profession. This would send a strong message that this act is indeed a modern European act that strives to strengthen media pluralism and media freedom in the European Union while respecting all rights and freedoms guaranteed by the ECHR.
Keywords
SLAPPs; Anti-SLAPP Directive; legal remedies; decriminalization of defamation; deontology of journalism
Hrčak ID:
319109
URI
Publication date:
28.6.2024.
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