| CASE is a coalition of civil society from across Europe representing a range of organisations acting in the public interest who are united in recognition of the threat posed to their work by Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), abusive lawsuits designed to silence critical speech. The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom is a member of the Coalition and campaigns actively against SLAPPs.
CASE, the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe, was officially launched on 27 March 2021 with an online panel event highlighting SLAPP victims representing different public watchdogs. At the launch event, Maltese investigative journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia – whose mother Daphne was murdered with a car bomb because of her reporting – commented:
He explained in a video how rich and powerful people in Malta abused the laws to try to silence critical journalism exposing alleged corruption. |
Coalition aims to outlaw SLAPPs in Europe
Coalition aims to outlaw SLAPPs in Europe
Another powerful message against SLAPPs was presented by the oil industry whistleblower Jonathan Taylor. And the team from Atlas of Hate explained the importance of their work in mapping legal actions targeting the LGBTQI community in Poland.
Support from EC Vice-President
In her keynote address, European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency Vēra Jourovà welcomed the new initiative. Afterwards she tweeted her support:
Honoured to launch the new anti-SLAPP website developed by the coalition of NGOs. Journalists should not risk their reputation or economic survival due to ingenuous lawsuits. #SLAPPs can be a serious threat for #democratic participation. Therefore, they require a robust response. pic.twitter.com/FCNoN7mLjj
— Věra Jourová (@VeraJourova) March 26, 2021
CASE already has more than 30 member organisations and is open to more. The website will serve as a repository of materials to assist public watchdogs in responding to legal attacks, host research CASE is conducting on legal intimidation and other data, and map out legal services and pro bono lawyers available across Europe.
Related news
Copyright
The information provided on this website is copyright protected and belongs to the author. You are free to share and adapt the text, provided you give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, indicate if changes were made, and do not use the text for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the text, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. No additional restrictions may be applied. Please note that pictures are excluded from this agreement and may be subject to different copyright regulations.
The ECPMF is part of:
ECPMF is financed by various project funders
Menckestr. 27
04155 Leipzig / Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 172 367 499 0
Fax: +49 (0) 341 562 96 63
E-Mail: info@ecpmf.eu
www.ecpmf.eu
