The National Anti-SLAPP Working Group strongly condemns the new, third lawsuit filed by Belgrade Court of Appeal judge Dušanka Đorđević against KRIK journalists and their “Judge Who Judges” database.

Judge Đorđević has now filed a criminal complaint demanding 10 months in prison and a two-year ban on journalism for KRIK editor Bojana Jovanović and Jelena Radivojević due to the alleged violation of the right to privacy. The proceedings for the first two lawsuits are ongoing – KRIK editor Stevan Dojčinović and journalist Bojana Pavlović are the defendants.

The judge and her husband, lawyer Aleksandar Đordjević, filed a new lawsuit because, as they claim, they only learned during the trials they are conducting against KRIK that Jovanović and Radivojević participated in the creation of the “Judge Who Judges” database of judges. It is interesting that it was journalist Radivojević who sent Judge Đorđević a request for an interview and specific questions during research and work on the basis of judges.

We point out that this lawsuit also represents a classic example of a SLAPP case – the goal of which is not to satisfy justice, but to put pressure on journalists, financial exhaustion and intimidation so that they stop dealing with certain topics that are important to citizens.

KRIK’s “Judge Who Judges” database was created in order to increase the transparency of the work of the judiciary, and the specific profile related to the judge contains information about the cases in which Đorđević judged, information about the assets she and her husband own, and nothing that could threaten their safety was published within the profile itself, which was the main reason for filing lawsuits.

The international Coalition Against SLAPP Lawsuits in Europe (CASE) labeled the first two lawsuits (civil and criminal) in which the Đorđevićs seek monetary compensation, imprisonment and a ban on journalism as “classic SLAPP lawsuits” that are filed without any basis and whose goal is to put pressure on journalists to stop reporting on certain topics.

The very fact that the judge is asking for jail time for journalists in her lawsuits clearly shows that the goal of such lawsuits is first to silence journalists, and then to shut down the database, which would represent a huge blow to the transparency of such data, which we remind you are completely public and available, and open up further space for various forms of censorship against journalists.

It is particularly worrisome that such a lawsuit is filed by a judge who also holds a public office – a person who should be the guarantor of the rule of law, and not someone who abuses the court system to deal with journalists. Such behavior seriously compromises the integrity of the judiciary and undermines citizens’ trust in the courts. Holders of such positions are obliged to tolerate the expression of critical opinions related to the results of their work, or related to the performance of their functions, regardless of whether they feel personally harmed by the expression of such information or opinions.

Lawsuits with SLAPP features are already recognized as a serious threat to democracy – the Council of Europe and the European Parliament have called on member states to introduce mechanisms to prevent them. In Serbia, unfortunately, this term is still not officially accepted, but the practice of multiple and identical lawsuits clearly shows that it is an abuse of the judiciary in order to silence critical voices. The National Anti-SLAPP Working Group requests that the state urgently recognize the problem of SLAPP lawsuits and, in accordance with the recommendations of the Council of Europe and the European Union, introduce the necessary measures to prevent them. We ask the holders of judicial functions to pay attention to this problem as soon as possible and apply the already existing procedural mechanisms for the protection of journalists from such lawsuits more consistently and strictly.

The National Anti-SLAPP Working Group, consisting of:

Civic Initiatives

Partners Serbia

Independent Journalists Association of Serbia

Slavko Ćuruvija foundation

KRIK

Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina

The Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM)

Association KROKODIL

Belgrade Center for Human Rights

BIRN Serbia