Verica Marinčić: Either we will raise the funds or we will shut down; now everything is in the hands of the public.
After the Court of Appeal in Belgrade upheld the first-instance ruling of the Higher Court, which orders the IN media editorial office from Inđija to pay a total of 161,000 dinars in damages and court costs due to an article stating that the municipality of Inđija gifted honey for potency to children, a fundraising campaign has been initiated to cover this penalty.
Anyone who wishes to help IN Media continue its operations can make a donation to the following account:
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The first judgment of a total of 7 identical SLAPP lawsuits
At the beginning of last year, In Media announced that successful young karate practitioners received packages containing jars of honey, which turned out to be advertised as an aphrodisiac, during a reception with then-mayor of the municipality of Inđija, Vladimir Gak.
Shortly thereafter, IN Media began receiving lawsuits from parents, totaling seven, and the first case has now concluded.
“In October, we received a non-final judgment, after which we appealed to the Court of Appeals, and they simply confirmed the first-instance ruling: 100 thousand for damages and 61 thousand for court costs, to be paid within 8 days,” said Verica Marinčić, the responsible editor of IN Media.
“Either we will cease to exist, or we will raise the money, but I will not allow anyone to easily shut down a media outlet that is the only one in this region operating exclusively in the public interest. Now it’s all up to the public,” she added.
Marinčić wrote about how public money is spent, who the gift – honey for potency – is intended for, and why it was specifically children.
“No one has even denied the news. The essence is that they are bothered by the photograph of the children, which still remains on the website of the municipality of Inđija. The photographs are allowed to be downloaded, as well as texts from the municipal website, for journalists and media, if we are unable to attend, and we are never invited,” the journalist explained.
According to Marinčić, the news about the gift was released two months after the event, precisely to protect the children since the reception with the mayor took place in the midst of the 2023 election campaign.
“And then hell breaks loose where we are seen as the main problem; it is not a problem that the children received that gift, but the problem is that the news was published,” stated the editor of IN Media.
The journalist expects that the court will take this judgment into consideration when deciding on the remaining six cases and fears that the decisions will be the same.
Numerous domestic journalist and media associations and foundations reacted to the judgment. They called on the public to participate in a fundraising campaign that will be used to cover this penalty.
It was emphasized that the state must recognize the problem of SLAPP and, following the recommendations of the Council of Europe and the European Union, do everything necessary to combat this form of infringement on media freedom.
Source: NUNS
