Osijek County Court president Zvonko Vrban has been named the European Bully Lawyer of the Year by CASE, the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe, due to a series of lawsuits he filed against the Croatian Telegram news portal, journalists and reporters, amounting to around €100,000.

Vrban was nominated for this year’s Bully Lawyer of the Year contest by the Croatian Journalists Association (HND), and the title was accepted by Drago Hedl, one of the reporters Vrban had sued.

“One of the most powerful judges in Croatia, Zvonko Vrban has filed a series of lawsuits against Telegram, its editor in chief, and me as the author of investigative articles. His plan was to intimidate and financially destroy us, as well as to stop articles investigating how he acquired his property and what other activities he engaged in aside from working as a judge,” Hedl said, accepting the title instead of Vrban, Telegram reported.

Nominating Vrban for the title last week, the HND said that in less than two years, Vrban had filed six civil lawsuits against Telegram, its editor in chief Jelena Valentic and journalist Drago Hedl.

“This is yet further proof that we fare worst in Europe in terms of the number of lawsuits filed by powerful people against reporters and media. Congratulations to our colleagues in Telegram on their persistent fight. Judge Vrban deserves this title for which he was nominated by the HND,” HND president Hrvoje Zovko said.

Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) constitute abuse of the legal system and pose a threat to democracy and their purpose is to intimidate and silence reporters, activists, and whistleblowers with long and expensive court proceedings that exhaust the resources of the accused and silence critical voices.

“With more than 951 active SLAPP lawsuits, Croatia is unfortunately among the European countries with the most such lawsuits. An HND survey shows the lawsuits filed in 2022 seek damages in the amount of at least HRK 77.4 million,” the HND said.

The title that went to the Osijek judge on Thursday is awarded under the auspices of the European Parliament and with the support of the Council of Europe. The title-awarding ceremony was designed as a parody of the Eurovision song contest and organised as part of a large European anti-SLAPP conference in Strasbourg at which the most important journalist organisations are defining a strategy to fight attacks on media freedoms.