The SLAPP we can no longer tolerate - an Anti-SLAPP training report from Slovenia
Originally published by Institute Open
Our very first training for lawyers on strategic lawsuits against public participation took place on the 3rd of February at the House of the EU in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Since Open is one of the founding members of the Legal Network for the Protection of Democracy (LNPD) initiative, we promoted it widely through the initiative as well, thus reaching more people.The operating model of LNPD is new in Slovenian civil society but has proven to be extremely valuable and effective. We have seen that through a solidarity-based network that joins forces of different actors we can contribute in an important way towards protecting and defending democratic principles, human rights and rule of law in Slovenia.
We had decided to organize the training in combination with another event following it, namely a public roundtable on SLAPP lawsuits. Barbara Rajgelj, the project lead and lawyer, introduced the training by presenting the PATFox project, its objectives and the topic of SLAPP as such.
Media law specialist and PATFox trainer Jasna Zakonjšek
The training itself was organized between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. and was intended for law experts. Attorney-at-law Jasna Zakonjšek specializing in Media Law, who is also the trainer in the PATFox project and a member of LNPD, focused on how freedom of expression is regulated in the Slovenian Constitution and in the European Convention on Human Rights. Jasna spoke in detail about SLAPP lawsuits and four cases that she dealt with as a lawyer. She concluded by presenting the proposed Anti-SLAPP Directive.
In the next part our guest speaker Aleš Galič, a renowned professor of civil procedural law at Ljubljana's Faculty of Law, spoke on the relationship between the Anti-SLAPP Directive and Slovenian civil procedures. He explained what can be done with correct usage of the Civil Procedure Act while also expressing some concerns regarding the solutions offered by the Directive.
Aleš Galič, Professor of civil procedural law at the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Law
The second part of the event was aimed at the general public with a view to raising awareness on SLAPP lawsuits as well as discussing experiences with SLAPPs in Slovenian context. There were four guest speakers of different profiles: a reporter who was a victim of SLAPP shared his experience, a judge at the Higher Court in Ljubljana and Secretary of State for the Ministry of Justice Igor Šoltes also participated.
The discussion touched upon which mechanisms for the prevention of abuse of law are already in place in Slovenian law, they also spoke about ways the new Directive will contribute to faster SLAPP lawsuits resolutions and so on.
Slovenian MEP Irena Joveva, a former journalist, who was in the end not able to come to the event in person, but she sent us a video with her speech, in which she emphasizes the vital importance of anti-SLAPP regulations. It is an area where Joveva has been active in recent years, sending an important message on numerous occasions, such as: ”They want to silence the critics. And that is exactly what SLAPP is. And that is exactly the slap we can no longer tolerate.”