OSCE media freedom representative concerned about Slovak judiciary seeking high damage awards in defamation cases
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, 2 May 2013 – Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, today expressed concern over members of the Slovak judiciary seeking high damage awards in lawsuits against the media.
“One of the indispensable roles of the media is to hold a mirror to society and inform people about matters of public interest. Public officials need to endure a higher threshold of criticism, including by members of the media,” Mijatović wrote today in a letter to Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák.
Several current and former members of the judiciary, among them the acting General Prosecutor and four Supreme Court judges, are seeking damages totaling €940,000 from the daily newspaper Nový Čas and its publisher for photos and videos published in June 2011 depicting plaintiffs in an unfavourable light.
In another case, Judge Michal Truban is suing the daily newspaper Sme seeking €150,000 in damages. He claims that an investigative article published by the newspaper in September 2012 had impugned his honour and infringed upon his privacy.
Both cases could result in crippling monetary judgments, Mijatović said. She called for a damage cap to be set in civil defamation cases.
“Threatening media with damage awards that can lead to the outlet’s bankruptcy might induce self-censorship in journalists and publishers and diminish the much-cherished media pluralism in Slovakia,” Mijatović said.
Mijatović is in San José attending a UNESCO World Press Freedom Day event.