Senior judges from Serbia strengthened their capacity to recognise and respond to Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), following the first training-of-trainers programme for judges in Serbia organised by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Judicial Academy.

The training was designed to support a sustainable approach to judicial capacity-building on SLAPPs, by equipping senior judges with specialised knowledge, practical tools and training methodology which they will be able to further transfer to their peers through the Judicial Academy. It was based on the Council of Europe Training Programme on Countering the Use of SLAPPs.

The Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2024)2 on countering the use of SLAPPs, calls for education, training and awareness raising among relevant legal and judicial professionals. In this context, both the Council of Europe Recommendation and EU Directive 2024/1069 on protecting persons who engage in public participation from manifestly unfounded claims or abusive court proceedings were presented to participants as key European instruments in this field.

By supporting the first pool of judicial trainers on this topic in Serbia, Council of Europe contributes to a more systematic understanding of SLAPPs as a threat to freedom of expression, media freedom and public participation. It also supports the judiciary in protecting legitimate public debate and strengthening resilience against the misuse of legal proceedings to silence critical voices.

The capacity building was conducted through the Action “Protecting freedom of expression and of the media in Serbia (PROFREX)”, implemented by the Division for Cooperation on Freedom of Expression, under the joint European Union and the Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”.