Third anti-SLAPP lecture in Croatia

On January 31, Gong held the third workshop on strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) for law students of the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, at the Gong premises. A total of eleven students were present.

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, focusing on the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the draft proposal for a Directive on SLAPPs. Through examples of such lawsuits in Croatia, such as those involving former presidents and government bodies, she warned about the impact they have on freedom of expression, as well as the lack of knowledge among lawyers, especially judges, when they are faced with these kinds of procedures.

The students, who expressed little or no knowledge about the issue, were particularly interested in why there was such an issue for judges to differentiate between value judgments and factual claims.