Lawyer Alexander Kashumov to FACT: The law against "slap cases" will stop abuses against journalists (VIDEO)

The law against "slap cases" was adopted by the Council of Ministers and we expect it to be adopted by the parliament after it is submitted. The Minister of Justice has already said that the draft is ready. I know the texts best, because I have been part of the working group from the very beginning, and I can say that these changes will really solve a large part of the problems. This will now effectively combat censorship and abuses, in which businessmen, politicians, civil servants and even people from the underworld file so-called "slap cases" against journalists, media, non-governmental organizations and civil society activists. He announced this to Lili Marinkova in the studio „FACTS“ and the program „Conversation“ lawyer Alexander Kashumov.

„We expect the text to be adopted by the parliament in the form in which it was already approved by the Council of Ministers. This is extremely important, because in Bulgaria, as well as in other countries of the European Union, serious problems have accumulated in recent years. We saw the record lawsuit of „Lev ins“ against “Mediapool“, which is still being considered, although the media has already won the case in two instances. It is currently in the Supreme Court of Cassation and the proceedings have been suspended. If this law is adopted, it will act against such abuses“, added the lawyer.

„We have many other examples - journalists from „Bird“, „Bivol“, “Capital“ and other media outlets are also subject to similar “slaps“ lawsuits. I often talk about the situation in the provinces. There, colleagues work for significantly lower salaries, and local media outlets are much more vulnerable. That is why such legislative protection is even more necessary for them“, the lawyer shared.

“The Bulgarian legislator, because our law only reflects some European provisions, has divided two large categories of cases. One is the so-called clearly unfounded claims, from which it is clear that from the very beginning there cannot be such a claim, as “Lev Ins“ is suing for one million leva for the fact that the media outlet published information that is from a transcript of the Council of Ministers, which is publicly available on the Internet. This is a clearly unfounded claim that should have been terminated at an early stage. The second large category is the so-called partially justified cases, in which it is clear that the goal of the claim is to silence criticism. These are cases in which someone can seize on some minor mistake or omission, but the goal is to hit a journalist, a media outlet. How are these cases considered? There is a set of criteria that are written in the Directive and in Bulgarian law. If we see, I repeat, the same plaintiff, for the same several claims, for the same things. There are other criteria - if the size of the claim is disproportionately large compared to what could realistically be claimed. Because our law does not limit the amount of the claim that a plaintiff can claim. And various other types of criteria,“, lawyer Kashumov also shared.
See more of the conversation in the VIDEO.