Across the region, there has been an increase in SLAPP lawsuits being used as a tool to intimidate, discourage and silence journalists and activists dealing with issues of public and general interest.
Croatia leads the region in terms of the number of SLAPP lawsuits filed, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
SLAPP lawsuits (strategic lawsuits against public participation) are not recognized in the legal systems of countries in the region. What characterizes them is the financial, emotional, psychological and professional exhaustion of journalists, their newsrooms and activists and informal groups who investigate, question and point out various social anomalies, corruption and crime.
What are the options and mechanisms for fighting SLAPP lawsuits?
What is an ANTI-SLAPP strategy and do we have one?
How to help journalists and activists defend against SLAPP lawsuits?
These ongoing issues will be discussed at the second panel “Regional Conference on SLAPP Lawsuits”, which will be held on December 10, from 1:15 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., in the Youth Center in Banja Luka.
The panel is organized as part of the “Srđan Aleksić Days” event.
Preservation of media freedom and activism is crucial for a democratic society, that is why it is important to work on strengthening protection mechanisms against unjustified legal threats – SLAPP lawsuits!
INTRODUCING THE PANELISTS:
Svjetlana Milišić Veličkovski, judge of the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The judge has many years of experience in working on civil and administrative cases. She is an expert and a permanent associate of the Council of Europe as an educator at trainings for members of the judiciary in the field of freedom of expression and the media, for which she also runs an online course for legal experts (HELP). She is a permanent educator of the Center for the Education of Judges and Prosecutors in the field of civil law and human rights, including the field of freedom of expression. Judge Milišić Veličkovski is the co-author of two editions of the Commentary on the Law on Civil Procedure.
Branka Dragović Savić, editor-in-chief of the Autonomija.info portal
He has been engaged in journalism since 1997. Until 2000, she collaborated with several newspapers and weekly newspapers, among which were “Novosadski nedeljnik” and the newspaper “Vojvodina”. From 2001 to 2013, she worked in the newspaper “Dnevnik” from Novi Sad, in the internal politics section. Since 2013, he has been working at Radio and Television of Vojvodina. Since 2010, she has been collaborating with the Autonomija portal, the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina, and since 2019 she is the editor-in-chief of the portal. She held the position of president of the NDNV Executive Board in the period 2016-2019. From 2109 to 2022, she was a member of the Board of Directors of NDNV.
Eldin Karić, editor of the portal Žurnal.info
He is the executive director of the “Center for Media Development and Analysis” Association (CRMA), as well as the editor of the online magazine Žurnal, CRMA’s main project.
He was the editor-in-chief, deputy editor-in-chief and executive editor of Start BiH magazine. Start BiH magazine received the “Newspaper of the Year 2003” award, which is given by the largest journalistic organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Start BiH won the Amnesty International Media Awards in 2003.
He completed his specialization in print media management at St. Norbert’s College.
Emina Zahirović Pintarić, lawyer
She is a lawyer with twelve years of legal experience in the private, non-profit and government sectors. She holds an MA in International Law from the University of Westminster, London, UK. She is the co-author of two books, the author of five articles and worked as a researcher on three international projects and as an external consultant on three projects in BiH.
She worked as an associate and external consultant for international, regional and domestic law firms and international organizations.
She is passionate about human rights and supports international organizations and local formal and informal groups in gathering and spreading information on human rights violations, advocacy and strategic litigation, as well as providing support to victims of human rights violations.
Before starting her independent law practice in 2019, she worked for Wolf Theiss, a top law firm from Austria, BDK Advokate from Serbia and Descartes Solicitors from Great Britain.
