NGOs launch a site against gag order in Europe

Published on : 26/03/2021 – 22:50

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Paris (AFP)

A coalition of NGOs launched the site on Friday against the proliferation of so-called “gag order” legal procedures by allowing whistleblowers and journalists, targeted by these lawsuits, to provide them with means of defense and information.

About 30 associations, including RSF, Greenpeace, Transparency International, the European Federation of Journalists, are at the origin of this platform which sets itself the mission of “denouncing and combating the use of legal proceedings to intimidate and silence” critical voices.

To combat this type of practice, Case – like Coalition Against Slapps in Europe – intends to deploy a three-pronged strategy.

On the program: media coverage of abusive procedures and their initiators, legal aid to those targeted and lobbying of political decision-makers. On this last point, Case reminds us of a draft European directive aimed at legally protecting whistleblowers.

In terms of the media, the coalition plans to organize the European version of the “Slapp awards” on May 18, to designate the most litigious companies and political figures.

As for the toolbox, the site provides a European map of legal services and pro bono lawyers who can defend victims of gag order proceedings.

Andrew Caruana Galizia, son of the Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who was murdered in October 2017, recounted on Friday, during the launch conference of the Case website, the legal harassment suffered by his mother.

At the time of her assassination, the journalist, who was tracking corruption cases, was targeted by 47 defamation proceedings, 95% of which had been launched a year earlier, he detailed.

Which “means she spent a lot of time in court every week, her bank accounts were frozen, it had a major impact on her job,” the young man recalled.

The journalist potentially risked paying several million euros in damages, he continued.

“So, if she had not been murdered, the sad reality is that she would have been totally crushed financially”, concluded Mr. Caruana Galizia, specifying that he and his family still had to face 24 ongoing proceedings. .

© 2021 AFP

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