CASE – a coalition of non-governmental organizations from all over Europe united in recognizing the threat posed to public observers by strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP’s) – has again this year chosen the “best” SLAPPers in Europe.
This year’s winner of the “best SLAPPer award” is a judge Ivan Marković, President of the County Court in Zadar. According to the organizers, Judge Marković filed a total of 26 reports and lawsuits against journalists and media who reported critically on the case in which he decided to release five suspects accused of rape and sexual abuse.
– Judge Ivan Marković is one of the clearest examples of how journalists and the media in Croatia are the targets of SLAPP lawsuits, said Hrvoje Zovko, president of the Croatian Journalists’ Association, thanking him for the award and noted that in the five years that this award has been awarded, this is the third time that the “SLAPP champion” has come from Croatia, which says a lot.
Half of the procedures, 13 of them, refer to Hanzo Media, the publisher of Slobodna Dalmacija. Our journalist was also the target of the lawsuit Ivica Nevešćaninwhich was the first to report on sexual violence against a minor and the decision to release the suspects. The case aroused strong public interest, and the media particularly questioned Judge Marković’s decision not to remand the suspects. His allegations were then reported by other media, after which the topic received national attention. The lawsuits also cover the portals Index and Telegram and the daily newspaper 24sata, all because of articles related to the same case.
On the occasion of the European recognition, which again put this case in the public’s focus, Ivica Nevešćanin also sent a few words in a video message.
– It is a great honor for me to represent my country Croatia and my newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija at this prestigious competition. Little Croatia was second in the Eurovision Song Contest the year before last, and the Croatian football team won second and third place in the last two world championships. But all that cannot be compared to the results that Croatian judges achieve in competitions with us journalists.
In the last five years, this is the third time that Croatia has won. As a Croatian journalist, I am extremely proud of that fact. Thank you to the Croatian Journalists’ Association for the nomination and to my colleagues in the editorial office of Slobodna Dalmacija, from our company Hanza Medije, for their support.
Finally, on the eve of the World Cup, I would like to send a message to Luka Modrić, our “fireman”: “Let him suffer, Croatia is the world champion for the third time.” Cheers! – said colleague Nevešćanin.
Let’s remind you that in 2021, the award for the largest European lawsuit went to Croatian Radiotelevision, which is headed by the then director Kazimir Bačić filed a series of lawsuits against journalists and its own employees, including against the president of HND Hrvoja Zovkawho was fired from HRT for opposing censorship. Two years later, in 2023, the then president of the County Court in Osijek received the award Zvonko Vrban due to a series of lawsuits against the Telegram portal, journalists Dear Hedl and editor-in-chief Jelena Pavić Valentić.
With these awards, the European SLAPP Contest opens the issue of abuse of court procedures against journalists, activists and other persons acting in the public interest. It is an initiative that warns against so-called SLAPP lawsuits – strategic lawsuits directed against public participation, which try to burden critics with lengthy and expensive court processes.
