Social Media Lawsuit in Croatia: Pending Cases, Laws, and Anti-SLAPP Reform

Lawsuits against journalists in Croatia number in the hundreds at any given time, with the Croatian Journalists’ Association counting 752 active cases in 2024 and claimed damages running into the millions of euros.¹ Most are civil defamation claims, many are filed by politicians and judges, and a large share show the hallmarks of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) — litigation designed less to win than to drain and silence the defendant.

How Many Lawsuits Are Pending

The volume has stayed consistently high. The Croatian Journalists’ Association reported 752 active lawsuits in 2024, down from 945 in 2023 and 951 in 2022.¹ A 2025 survey counted at least 696 active cases with claimed damages above €3.1 million,² and Reporters Without Borders puts the current figure above 750.³ Civil claims dominate: 96% of the €4.1 million in damages tracked in the Journalists’ Association survey came from civil suits.⁴

The association has said the resources needed to catalog every case exceed what it can muster, so the real total may be higher.² The government’s own count sits at around 30, a figure the association disputes.⁵

What the Case Data Shows

The most detailed look at these lawsuits comes from a study by the Croatian Journalists’ Association and the Centre for Democracy and Law Miko Tripalo, which examined 1,333 court rulings and decisions issued between 2016 and 2023. Because Croatian law contains no definition of a SLAPP, researchers applied criteria from the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe, the European Commission, and the Council of Europe.⁶ More than 40% of the cases contained at least one SLAPP indicator, and roughly half of those met several.⁷

The outcomes are telling. Fewer than 40% of civil cases ended in a judgment, and only about 18% resulted in damages. In criminal cases, just 24% reached a judgment, and two-thirds of those produced acquittals.⁷ Civil proceedings that reached judgment ran an average of 4.3 years, or 3.6 years when withdrawals and dismissals are included.⁴ The study concluded that many plaintiffs were not primarily seeking a win; the point was to generate costs and create a chilling effect through long, uncertain proceedings.

Claimed damages averaged €9,300 per case, with a median of €5,300. Actual awards averaged €5,300, with a median under €2,700. The highest individual awards went to judges, with one receiving more than €13,000.⁷

Who Is Filing the Suits

Many plaintiffs appear more than once. The Miko Tripalo researchers found “serial plaintiffs” who file multiple defamation suits with nearly identical arguments and compensation demands.⁴ Politicians, members of parliament, judges, and lawyers show up repeatedly.

Milijan “Vaso” Brkić, deputy leader of the ruling HDZ party and former deputy speaker of parliament, filed 18 lawsuits against media outlets.⁶
Tomislav Tolušić, a former agriculture minister, filed 11 lawsuits against outlets including Telegram.hr, Index.hr, and Virovitica.net for coverage of a conflict-of-interest investigation into his property disclosures. Three were thrown out and the rest were withdrawn.⁸⁶
Željka Markić, a conservative activist who heads the organization In the Name of the Family, filed eight.⁶

Judges are among the most active plaintiffs. ARTICLE 19 reported that reporting critically on the Croatian judiciary “almost guarantees retaliatory lawsuits,” and noted that some government officials have publicly acknowledged initiating criminal defamation and insult cases themselves.⁹

What These Cases Look Like in Practice

Ciglenečki v. Turudić

In 2014, Dražen Ciglenečki of Novi list published a column titled “Turudić Does More Damage Than Šešelj,” criticizing Ivan Turudić, then president of the Zagreb County Court. Turudić pursued both civil and criminal proceedings. The Rijeka Municipal Court ordered Ciglenečki and his editor to pay €20,000 in damages in rulings of March 2016 and May 2018. In a separate criminal case in February 2022, Ciglenečki was found guilty of damaging Turudić’s reputation; the presiding judge held that the column “exceeds the limit of permissible value judgments and criticisms.” He was sentenced to a fine equivalent to 30 days’ income.¹⁰

Narodni List v. Croatia

The magazine Narodni List was sued by a judge over an article questioning the judge’s attendance at a social event despite a potential conflict of interest. A county court ordered the magazine to pay €6,000. In November 2018, the European Court of Human Rights found that Croatia had violated the magazine’s freedom of expression, calling the article “non-insulting,” noting it dealt with a matter of public interest, and holding the damages “excessive.”⁸ The Miko Tripalo study later cited the case as an example of Croatian courts failing to align with ECtHR standards on proportionality.⁷

Jutarnji List

In November 2018, a court ordered Jutarnji list to pay 50,000 kuna (roughly €7,000) to a judge and member of the State Judicial Council over an interview in which a politician had called the Council “the source of corruption.” The plaintiff was not named in the interview, and the piece had been authorized by the interviewee before publication.⁸

The Laws That Make This Possible

Croatia still treats defamation and insult as criminal offenses. Insult falls under Article 147 of the Criminal Code, and intentional defamation under Article 149. Knowingly disseminating false factual claims that could damage another person’s honor or reputation is criminal; doing so via mass media or computer systems is an aggravated form that carries higher fines. The criminal defamation provision does not include a defense for information disseminated in the public interest.¹¹

Article 307a of the Criminal Code separately criminalizes unauthorized disclosure of information about criminal investigations. In early 2024, parliament passed a bill reinforcing that prohibition, which journalists warned could silence their sources.³⁹

One of the sharpest edges of the system is what observers call “double prosecution.” A plaintiff can pursue criminal charges and a civil damages claim against the same journalist for the same article at the same time. Lawyer Vanja Jurić has described the dynamic bluntly: “the plaintiff’s aim is not necessarily to win the case, but rather put pressure on journalists and media… They’re used as a cautionary tale for journalists and media who might be tempted to write about them in the future.”⁸

Where Anti-SLAPP Reform Stands

Reform has been slow. As of mid-2025, Amnesty International reported that Croatia had made no notable progress on transposing the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive (informally “Daphne’s law”) into domestic law.¹² The transposition deadline was May 7, 2026, and nearly all member states missed it; implementation across Europe has been described as “fragmented and uneven.”¹³ The European Anti-SLAPP Monitor lists Croatia’s status as “Started,” last updated in September 2025.¹⁴

The government has said it will extend the directive’s protections to both cross-border and domestic SLAPP cases, and was drafting implementing legislation as of June 2025.⁹ A working group has been set up at the Ministry of Culture and Media, and a second group was scheduled to form in late 2024 to draft a transposition roadmap. No plans have been announced to decriminalize defamation.¹⁵

The Media Pluralism Monitor rated Croatia at 68% risk on the protection of journalists, driven by what it called “very poor performance in combating abusive legal proceedings.”⁹ A February 2025 Media Freedom Rapid Response report described the state of media freedom in the country as one of “prolonged stagnation.”¹⁶

Where Journalists Can Get Help

The Croatian Journalists’ Association tracks lawsuits, pushes for legislative change, and runs the Center for the Protection of Freedom of Expression, inaugurated in July 2015, which provides pro bono legal services and training.¹⁷ Croatian publishers have called for free legal aid to be made available to small local and non-profit outlets to help them resist unjustified lawsuits.¹⁸

Vanja Jurić, who co-founded the Center and was appointed to the European Commission’s expert group on SLAPPs in May 2023, also participates in the PATFox project, which trains lawyers, judges, and journalists across Europe to recognize SLAPP tactics.¹⁹ She has called the Croatian situation a “systematic abuse of rights” requiring a systemic response, and said educating the judiciary is the first condition for change.²⁰

Internationally, the Media Freedom Rapid Response consortium, including ARTICLE 19, the European Federation of Journalists, and the International Press Institute, conducts fact-finding missions in Croatia and engages government ministries on media law reform. The Croatian Journalists’ Union, working with the association and the Ministry of the Interior, has helped establish safety protocols for journalists covering protests and procedures for investigating attacks on members of the press.¹⁵

1
Reuters Institute. Digital News Report 2025 – Croatia
2
The Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe. 2025 Report on SLAPPs in Europe
3
Reporters Without Borders. Croatia Country Profile
4
SafeJournalists.net. CJA: At Least 752 Active Lawsuits Worth €4.1 Million
5
Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa. SLAPP in Croatia: A Plague
6
Balkan Insight. Study Identifies Hundreds of Possible SLAPPs Targeting Croatian Media Journalists
7
Miko Tripalo Centre for Democracy and Law. SLAPP Report
8
International Press Institute. Vexatious Lawsuits: A SLAPP in the Face for Journalists in Croatia
9
ARTICLE 19. Croatia Report
10
Media Freedom Rapid Response. Croatia: Journalist Convicted of Damaging Judge’s Reputation
11
ARTICLE 19. Croatia: Decriminalise Insult and Defamation
12
Amnesty International. Croatia Country Report
13
ARTICLE 19. EU: As Deadline Passes, We Call Urgent Implementation of Anti-SLAPP Directive
14
European Anti-SLAPP Monitor. SLAPP Monitor
15
Media Freedom Rapid Response. Croatia: Major Challenges Ahead to Improve Media Freedom
16
International Press Institute. Croatia: Tackling Political Pressure, Legal Challenges, and Precarity to Revive Media Freedom
17
Resource Centre for Media Freedom. Support Centres
18
European Federation of Journalists. Croatia: Union Reports Over 900 Lawsuits Against Journalists and Media
19
Total Croatia News. Lawyer Vanja Juric
20
Blueprint for Free Speech. Interviews With Leading Anti-SLAPP Lawyers: Vanja Juric