The event “SLAPPs: a growing threat to democracy”, organized by the Spanish group of the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE), will take place on October 22, 2024, at the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid-Sala Moliner from 09:30 to 13:30 at the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid-Sala Moliner.
For years, CASE has been working to protect the rights of those who are victims of SLAPPs and to advocate for comprehensive protection measures and reforms.
The CASE working group in Spain, led by FIBGAR and comprised of Greenpeace, Xnet, Article 19, and the Federation of Journalists’ Unions -FeSP, is dedicated to sharing information on SLAPPs, monitoring national cases, and encouraging and promoting anti-SLAPP initiatives and ensuring an effective and comprehensive transposition that includes strong safeguards.
SLAPPs, known as gag suits, represent a particular type of judicial harassment that allows powerful actors to misuse the legal and judicial systems in order to silence critical voices – including activists, non-profit organizations, journalists and media – exercising their own fundamental rights, in particular the right to freedom of expression. These forms of abuse often result from the exercise of an act of citizen participation concerning a matter of public interest.
In order to protect critical voices from such abusive litigation, Directive 2024/1069 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of persons who engage in public participation against manifestly unfounded claims or abusive legal action (“strategic claims against public participation”) was adopted last April. It is now up to the Member States to build on this foundation and develop effective national legislation.
The event on October 22 aims to raise awareness of the phenomenon of SLAPPs in Spain and to lay the groundwork for a debate on the process of transposition of the directive. Jaime Doreste, lawyer and professor, Jesús Maraña Marcos, journalist and director of Infolibre, responsible for agriculture at Greenpeace Spain and (speaker to be confirmed) will participate in the event.
The event will conclude with a working meeting open to the incorporation of other interested entities and aimed at planning the work of the group.
The event will be broadcast live on the YouTube channel @FIBGAR.
Registration form here.
Discover the more detailed program is available:
