Nearly one in 10 SLAPP cases filed in European courts in 14 years targeted people in Malta, most of whom were journalists, according to a new report.
Of the 1,049 SLAPP cases filed in the years spanning from 2010 and 2023, a total of 91 (9%) targeted defendants in Malta, data by the Coalition Against SLAPPS in Europe (CASE) shows. Most of these were filed against slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation) are court proceedings intended to harass and intimidate people involved in protecting the public interest, such as journalists.
In a recent case, a Sofia court of appeals threw out a SLAPP action by Satabank’s Bulgarian co-owner Hristo Georgiev against Times of Malta, over an article the court held to be substantially true.
The action stemmed from an article published on January 27, 2019, with the headline ‘Billions of euros in Satabank transactions deemed highly suspicious,’ with particular reference to a quote from a source who said, “This makes previous money laundering cases look like child’s play”.
In July, the Maltese government said it had become the first EU member state to transpose anti-SLAPP law.
But the Institute of Maltese Journalists warned the measure transposed by the government was only part of a much-needed wider reform.
The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, which drafted the 2024 Report on SLAPPs in Europe for CASE, said on Monday Malta’s anti-SLAPP legislation was "inadequate", as the transposition of the EU directive did not provide comprehensive and effective protection.
"Among other problems, it provides no protection against abusive litigation in domestic civil cases or criminal cases, it disregards the EU Recommendation that formed part of the same anti-SLAPP package as the directive, and it fails to meet the standards set by the Council of Europe Recommendation on countering the use of SLAPPs."
166 SLAPPS in 2024
CASE's report for this year shows that 166 SLAPPs were fired across Europe in 2023 alone.
Released on Monday to mark International AntiCorruption Day, the report found that journalists are the most frequently targeted defendants, followed by media outlets, editors, activists, and NGOs.
Of the newly documented SLAPPs in 2023, one in three relate to corruption and more than 15% to environmental issues.
Most were filed by businesses and politicians.
The countries with the largest numbers of new cases were Italy (26), Romania (15), Serbia (10), and Turkey (10).
For the first time, the CASE report also recorded SLAPPs in Monaco, Lithuania, Azerbaijan and Denmark, bringing the total number of European countries in which SLAPPs have been identified to 41.
In 14 years, 64.3% of SLAPPs filed across Europe were civil lawsuits but the statistics collated for the CASE report show an increasing proportion of cases based in criminal law.