The Media Development Center organized training on SLAPP for legal counsels and attorneys in Bulgaria

SLAPP cases achieve their goals in two ways – on the one hand with financial pressure - by imposing heavy financial penalties on the media and journalists, paying excessive legal fees, freezing bank accounts, etc. Through such measures, in addition to specific journalists, intimidation cases also aim to affect the journalistic guild as a whole, effectively limiting interest in certain topics and cases. On the other hand, specific journalists are also affected purely psychologically, as they end up being defendants in criminal cases or defendants in claims for tens of thousands.

In recent years, numerous court cases have been registered in Bulgaria that bear the marks of strategic cases for intimidation of journalists, or so-called SLAPP cases. These cases aim to exert psychological and financial pressure, intimidate the media or journalists, and stop investigations or critical material they are working on. This is a particularly new phenomenon that is also difficult to define, she pointed out. Surely not every case against a journalist and activist is a SLAPP, because not all journalists follow ethical standards and a specific feature of the Bulgarian public sphere is that SLAPP cases are used not only by politicians but also by state authorities.

The Media Development Center organized training on 6 October 2023 on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) for legal counsels and attorneys in Bulgaria, who have had experience defending in SLAPP cases and those who are interested in learning about it as well for experts who are willing to participate actively in discussions and share experiences in the field.

During the presentation of the participants, it became clear that there were different attitudes in the audience. Some of the participants had an expectation to receive information about the directive on protection against public participation – ways to identify SLAPPs and countermeasures. Other participants were well aware of the draft directive and were expecting more in-depth comments on how the mechanisms provided for in it should be regulated at the national level. Everyone was looking forward to the commentary on specific cases and discussion of the strategy of the prosecution and the defense and the decisions of the courts.

Discussions were held during and after the speaker's presentation, with participants sharing their own experiences and discussing procedures regulated in domestic law that could be identified as similar to the SLAPP protection mechanisms offered in the directive.

Expectations for increased awareness and acquisition of new knowledge with a practical focus were met. The motivation to use the new knowledge in the practical work of the lawyers was also increased, by presenting the practice of domestic courts that they could refer to.

The interest in the topic, and the active participation, both with questions and with sharing experiences and reflections on the possibilities for the internal legal regulation of the problems arising on the occasion of SLAPP, can rate the training as very useful for all participants. Some of the participants gained basic knowledge, others expanded their knowledge about SLAPP, but all shared that the acquired new skills will be useful in their practical work.

The mixed audience of lawyers who have knowledge and experience on the subject and lawyers who are getting acquainted with the draft directive for the first time does not allow them to satisfy everyone's expectations to the maximum extent at the same time. Discussions and shared practical problems encountered by practicing lawyers in different matters - criminal, civil, and administrative and with different knowledge, in such an environment, however, turn out to be very effective and useful mainly because of emerging issues that require an analysis of domestic law and the proposed mechanisms of the directive.

In any case, such initiatives will have an important impact on the future development of the topic in the public domain in Bulgaria and the new anti-SLAPP regulations at the EU level.