Defamation

An unknown person on Top Channel's show Top Story's Facebook page on Thursday sent shockwaves across Albania after claiming that the TV channel's bosses had cancelled the airing of an important documentary entitled "The Oligarchs of the Urban Renaissance".

Between 2010 and 2020 in Serbia, at least 26 civil lawsuits were brought against journalists, media outlets, civil society organisations and activists as a result of their efforts to monitor rights violations, says a report published on Wednesday by international human rights group Article 19, the ABA Centre for Human Rights, and the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia, NUNS.

Newly envisaged penalties for assaulting a journalist or a media worker adopted by North Macedonia's government on Tuesday will be from three months to three years in jail, the same as for assaulting a police officer, the Justice Ministry said.

These cases and others where freedom of speech is being challenged by Poland's harsh criminal code sometimes make the international news.

Rama promised to fight corruption and organised crime, reform the healthcare and education systems, create 300,000 new jobs and accelerate EU integration.

Paradoxically, instead of moving the country forward, his premiership has become a major setback for the country.

The Ministry of Justice in Albania on Thursday said it is working on changes to the penal code that include upping the fines to 4.5 million leks (36,000 euros) for defamation, and extending responsibility not only to journalists but also to editors and directors of media outlets and others.

National courts in Europe can now sanction online platforms by ordering the removal of defamatory content around the world. The European Court of Justice has come up with such a decision today in a case brought by a former Austrian politician.

Abania Prime Minister Edi Rama speaking at his party headquarters on 30 June 2019. Photo: Gent Shkullaku/LSA

"We are now examining very carefully this new draft adopted by the Council of Ministers that will go to parliament in September," Soreca told Albanian Public Television.

It also stated that alleged facts in her articles had not been established as "completely true".

The City Court in Sofia, Bulgaria, has fined Capital Weekly judicial reporter Rossen Bossev in a defamation case presided over by a judge he had previously criticised - drawing criticism from domestic and international media watchdogs.