The Court of Appeals confirmed: Verica Marinčić and IN Media have eight days to pay 160,000 dinars.

After the same decision was made at the first instance in October 2024, the Appellate Court confirmed that the editor-in-chief of IN media, Verica Marinčić, must pay 160,000 dinars (100,000 in damages and 60,000 for costs) for the first of seven lawsuits she received for publishing a photograph of children during a reception with the President of the Municipality of Inđija, Vladimir Gak, which she obtained from the municipal website.

The disputed photograph was published alongside a report stating that the Municipality distributed honey "Fruškogorski skočko – joy in the home" to children training karate, which is advertised as honey for potency, after which lawsuits from parents followed. If the first ruling is any indication, the total amount that IN media will have to pay could exceed one million dinars.

Although many other media outlets also published the same photograph and similar news, only the editorial office of IN media faced a lawsuit. As Marinčić noted earlier, these are SLAPP lawsuits – those aimed not at achieving justice but at pressuring the media to self-censor or cease operations.

Verica Marinčić told Cenzolovka that all she can say about the ruling is – HELP!

Neither she nor IN media has the 160,000 dinars that needs to be paid within eight days. She is also concerned that the remaining six lawsuits will have the same outcome, which would mean the shutdown of IN media.

“I have no idea how I will pay this,” she says. “We will seek help from friends and rely on the public. We are an independent media outlet reporting in the public interest, so we hope that those who read us will be able to recognize this and support us now when it is the hardest.”

She reached out to the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia, the Independent Journalists' Society of Vojvodina, the Association of Independent Electronic Media, and other organizations, which promised to do everything they can.

As a reminder, after Vladimir Gak left the position of President of the Municipality of Inđija last year, he was replaced by Marko Gašić, who characterized the treatment of IN media journalists as unfair and promised to work on improving relations with journalists and facilitating access to information.

Although there have been some improvements, the treatment of journalists has not fundamentally changed. Journalists from the IN media editorial office have not been invited to events organized by the local authorities, including visits from state and provincial officials, because, as Gašić explained: “I never know what you will ask the ministers or provincial officials.”

Although he condemned the expulsion of Verica Marinčić from the municipal building during Vladimir Gak's term, he ignored the fact that the IN media portal, thanks to the previous administration, is facing as many as seven SLAPP lawsuits in the "Skočko" affair.

And thus, the pressure on this independent media outlet continued, and now it also faces the threat of closure.

Source: Cenzolovka