A recent defamation decision by the Court of Appeal in North Macedonia against the Investigative Reporting Lab (IRL) is a worrying development for media freedom in the country which should be overturned on further appeal, the IPI and organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) said today.
At a public hearing before the Court of Appeal in Skopje on 26 February, the court ruled against IRL’s appeal and upheld the defamation verdict previously handed down to the media outlet and its editor-in-chief Saška Cvetkovska. IRL is an independent and non-profit investigative media platform and a local partner of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
The civil defamation lawsuit was filed in 2021 by Kočo Angjušev, a powerful businessman and former Deputy Prime Minister in North Macedonia. The litigation stemmed from a documentary produced by IRL as a joint investigation with the OCCRP, which was aired in 2021 on the public broadcaster, Macedonian Radio Television.
The lawsuit was initially dismissed in a first-instance verdict in 2021. After an appeal by the plaintiff, the Court of Appeal in May 2022 annulled the verdict and ordered a retrial. In October 2023, although no new evidence was introduced, a judge at the Basic Civil Court ruled against IRL and ordered them to pay symbolic damages and legal costs.
After the 2023 ruling, MFRR partners and the Safe Journalist Network (SJN) expressed alarm over the verdict, which controversially ruled that IRL should be classified as “non-media” and that its staff were “members of a group”, rather than professional journalists. The verdict also suggested that the state should open a misdemeanor procedure for the legality of the work of the organisation.
In the latest ruling, the court formally upheld the guilty verdict. The exact justification for the decision is not yet known, as the full written judgement will only be provided at a later stage. The decision was swiftly condemned by the Association of Journalists of Macedonia and the Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers.
MFRR partners are dismayed by the new ruling against IRL, which is one of the country’s leading investigative media platforms. The decision will have worrying implications for the future of non-profit journalism in North Macedonia. This lawsuit also bears many hallmarks of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) and should be considered an attempt to limit legitimate and public interest reporting.
The MFRR therefore supports IRL’s stated intention to appeal the case to the Constitutional Court after the written verdict is received. If domestic legal remedies are exhausted, the case should be submitted to the European Court of Human Rights.
Moving forward, our organisations express our hope that this damaging ruling will be overturned. Until then, this case will continue to represent a dark stain on the media freedom record of North Macedonia and a worrying example of a rule of law flaw which undermines freedom of expression and the freedom of the press in the country.
To address the threat posed to media by these kinds of SLAPPs in the future, our organisations also urge the Macedonian authorities to pass reforms to the justice system to introduce legal safeguards for media outlets and journalists facing vexatious litigation and to implement and transpose the Council of Europe Recommendation and EU Directive against SLAPPs, as part of its EU accession alignment.
Our organisations stand in solidarity with the Investigative Reporting Laboratory, its staff and its journalism, and will continue to closely monitor and advocate on this case at the domestic and EU level.
Signed:
ARTICLE 19 Europe
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
International Press Institute (IPI)
Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)
