Živković Samardžić, one of the Serbia’s leading full-service independent law firms and market leaders in media law and defamation, has secured a victory at the Court of Appeal in Belgrade for Dan Graf d.o.o., publisher of Belgrade based daily newspaper “Danas”, and its former editor in chief Zoran Panović, against a civil defamation claim brought by Djordje Vukadinović, a memeber of the Serbian parliament and editor of “Nova srpska politička misao”, periodical publication for political theory and social research.
The claim related to an article published in Danas literary supplement in 2010, where Vukadinović was described as a “crypto-fascist analyst”. Both the Higher Court in Belgrade, as the court of first instance and the Court of Appeal in Belgrade held that the “crypto-fascist analyst” statement is to be regarded as value judgment rather than statement of fact and that affirming Mr. Vukadinović’s claim for damages would amount to a disproportionate interference with the freedom of expression.
Živković Samardžić’s representation of Dan Graf d.o.o. and its former editor Panović was supported through an Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) project securing legal advices and representation in defamation and other media related cases. The project was funded by the Civil Rights Defenders and the Media Legal Defence Intitiative, since 2011.
More information on particular case is available here (in Serbian). More information on the project is available on the website of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (in Serbian).
Živković Samardžić team successfully representing Dan Graf d.o.o. and Mr. Zoran Panović was led by Kruna Savović, Živković Samardžić Technology, Media and Telecommunications Senior Associate.