Strategic lawsuits against public participation: the state of SLAPPs in Spain
Originally published by FIBGAR
Coined in the 1980s by North American professors Canan and George W. Pring of the University of Denver, the term SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) is an English acronym that identifies lawuits that are intended to intimidate and keep targets quiet.
These are abusive lawsuits filed against individuals or organizations – in most cases against journalists, activists or whistleblowers – who have reported suspicious practices, with the sole aim of intimidating and ultimately silencing.
These judicial strategies– both civil and criminal – put in place by politicians and business corporations are based on intimidation tactics that can last for years. Thus, they consist of abuse of law that implies high procedural, economic and personal costs. They can also lead to self-censorship as other critical voices may decide not to assert their right to investigate and report on matters of public interest because of fear of reprisal.
As stated in the 2021 Rule of Law Report recently published by the European Commission, despite being a relatively recent phenomenon, these forms of judicial abuse are a growing cause of concern in several EU States.
Undoubtedly, the most emblematic and tragic case is that of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The Maltese journalist, known for her investigations into relevant corruption cases, through which she uncovered Malta’s involvement in the so-called Panama Papers, was murdered by a car bomb, after having received numerous threats and innumerable lawsuits for defamation.
In Germany, the coal company RWE sued a climate activist who had called for civil disobedience against the climate crisis. In Poland, law professor Wojciech Sadurski has faced three civil and criminal defamation lawsuits for posting tweets criticizing the ruling party. In Portugal, the eucalyptus pulp company Celtejo sued activist Arlindo Marquês for posting videos on social media accusing the company of contaminating the Tagus River.
In France, palm oil companies associated with the Bolloré Group have filed more than twenty lawsuits against journalists and various NGOs investigating alleged human rights abuses on the African continent. In the UK, businessman Banks sued Carole Cadwalladr, an investigative journalist, for a million pounds.
In Italy in 2017 alone, more than 9,000 defamation lawsuits were filed against journalists.
And in Spain?
Spain is not an exception and has seen its own share of abusive lawsuits. One example is the case of Manuel García, farmer and activist from the Limia region in the province of Ourense, in the northwestern part of Spain, versus the Coren group, which is mainly dedicated to the production of poultry, pork and beef.
In 2020 the Galician environmentalist was sued for one million euros, after having accused the Coren group of dumping manure on a television program.
But this is not the only case. According to Greenpeace, other activists in the area have received threatening letters from the Association of Entrepreneurs, Gandeiros and Agricultores da Limia (ADEGAL), which has strong ties with Coren.
In 2021, the communication businessman Jaume Roures, founder of the Mediapro group, filed a lawsuit for libel and defamation against Pere Rusiñol, a journalist of the magazine Mongolia, for some statements he made about the closure of the newspaper Público in an interview published in the newspaper Catalan Regio 7.
These are just a few examples.
Confronted with these growing threats that shake our democracies, the European institutions have already shown their concern, mostly as a result of the death of Caruana Galizia.
At the end of 2021, the European Parliament approved by a large majority a Report on strengthening democracy and media freedom and pluralism in the EU: the undue use of actions under civil and criminal law to silence journalists, NGOs and civil society, produced by Tiemo Wölken and Roberta Metsola, recently elected President of the European Parliament.
On the other hand, the European Commission has just closed a public consultation that had the objective of gathering opinions from citizens, journalists, Member States, NGOs, civil society, judges, legal professionals and other interested parties in relation to the SLAPP demands and the measures that should be taken to tackle the phenomenon in the EU Member States.
The Commission should shortly submit its proposal for a Directive (“EU Action against abusive litigation (SLAPP) against journalists and human rights defenders”) to the European Parliament.
The time has come for European countries -and Spain among them- to make an effort to protect their civic space and, with it, democracies around the world.
Now that the public space is increasingly threatened by the growing misuse of the legal and judicial system, adequate legal frameworks are needed to protect critical voices from these forms of harassment.
Alessia Schiavon, head of FIBGAR's Legal Department