PATFox takes Anti-SLAPP training to Croatian law students

On June 19, Gong held the first workshop on strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) for law students at the premises of the Society of University Lecturers.

Vanja Jurić, lawyer specialized in media law and a member of the expert group of the European Commission on SLAPP lawsuits, guided the participants through the phenomenon of SLAPPs. She discussed the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the draft proposal for a Directive on SLAPPs. Through examples of such lawsuits, such as the one where the Croatian Tourist Board sued Paul Bradbury for paraphrasing the official slogan as "Croatia full of uhljebs (leeches)," and the lawsuits by the Croatian Radiotelevision against the former editor-in-chief Hrvoje Zovko for pointing out irregularities and censorship, she illustrated the societal impact of such lawsuits and emphasized the importance of judges being able to recognize instances of abuse of rights. The participants were very interested in the topic and themselves pointed out recent cases with SLAPP elements from Croatia, some of them concerning LGBTIQA+ persons.

Gong would like to thank the ZA PRAVO LGBTIQA+ osoba (For the Rights of LGBTIQA+ Persons) association from the Faculty of Law in Zagreb for their collaboration in organizing the lecture.