The Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) has expressed serious concern following the acquittal of Yorgen Fenech, who had been standing trial for complicity and criminal association in the 2017 murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, warning that full accountability for her assassination remains unresolved. Caruana Galizia’s case has become emblematic of the connection between threats to journalists and the abusive use of litigation to silence public participation: at the time of her murder she was facing 48 libel suits, several of which were subsequently transferred to her family under Maltese law. Her assassination helped galvanise European action against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), contributing to the establishment of CASE and ultimately to the adoption in 2024 of the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive, commonly known as “Daphne’s Law”. The Directive establishes minimum procedural safeguards in the EU against abusive cross-border litigation targeting journalists, human rights defenders, NGOs and other public watchdogs. CASE argues that the latest verdict reinforces the need not only for accountability in Caruana Galizia’s murder, but also for effective protection of those exposing corruption and other matters of public interest. Read more here.
Source: CASE Coalition