EU passes law to protect journalists and citizens from intimidating lawsuits

On Tuesday, the Council of the European Union (EU) adopted a law that will protect citizens, especially journalists, from frivolous legal proceedings with the sole purpose of silencing whistleblowers, known as prosecution actions.

In a statement, the EU Council announced legislation against “abusive processes”, commonly known as SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation), actions whose sole purpose is to deter people from filing complaints, but without any support in court.

“The goal is to silence them,” the public bloc institute added.

“The people targeted in SLAPP proceedings, typically journalists and human rights activists, will benefit from a number of due process protections. […]”which will apply to all manifestly unfounded accusations or improper judicial proceedings,” the EU Council said.

With the adoption of the law, for example, journalists will be able to ask the courts to dismiss unfounded cases in the first instance, without requiring their analysis, if it is proven that the purpose is to intimidate them into “cancelling” an issue that is the subject of journalistic investigation.

The legislation would also provide compensation to defendants caught up in this type of pure intimidation process, covering the costs of all legal proceedings and damages incurred.

Court decisions must be swift, the EU Council warned.

At the same time, to “discourage abuse” in the future, the judge hearing the case may also impose a punishment on the person who brought the case.

The purpose of this law is to prevent intimidation in court as a way to suppress freedom of expression and investigative journalism.

For example, in 2017 in the United States of America, the program, the host of the comedy program, and all of its participants (including the media group that owns the program) were the subject of a SLAPP lawsuit by Bod Murray, the executive chairman of the energy company Murray Energy, which specializes in coal mining and converting it into electricity.

The company’s executive president alleged defamation and misrepresentation during a comedy skit that criticized company management in the face of numerous incidents involving workers at the mines.

Despite the fact that the program was filmed in New York and the entire crew was from this city, the case was under the jurisdiction of the West Virginia state courts, but was dropped two years later because the humorous sketch was under the protection of northern authorities. -American legislation as satire and freedom of speech.

But as the presenter explained in a program aired in November 2019, the process was drawn out, expensive and aimed at silencing critics. Bode Murray, for example, has filed other similar lawsuits against journalists who were investigating allegations of mismanagement of his company and incidents of workplace harassment.

The United States has no national legislation protecting citizens from such lawsuits, but states such as New York have passed laws protecting freedom of expression and whistleblowers about these lawsuits.