In July 2020, the recycling company Rewarding Packaging Recycling filed a lawsuit against journalist Thodoris Chondrogiannos and the media outlet inside story for an investigative report based on leaked documents which revealed the company’s problematic performance in packaging recycling.
The company manages a reciprocal recycling scheme and is one of the two main management systems for packaging recycling, with the other being the blue bin, which is managed by the Hellenic Recovery Recycling Corporation.
The report, published on February 12, 2020 featured two documents that had been leaked from the Hellenic Recycling Agency (ΕΟΑΝ), a body within the Ministry of Environment and Energy that is responsible for the implementation of recycling policy in Greece. These document in detail how Rewarding Packaging Recycling failed to comply with legal requirements for the effective management of recyclable packaging materials.
Following the publication, the company sent an official Letter of Caution requesting that the report be withdrawn. The journalist and the media outlet instead proceeded to publish the letter. In response the company filed a lawsuit against them, demanding compensation of 80,000 euros.
The company has also taken legal action against other media outlets, as well as employees of the Hellenic Recycling Agency. Indicatively, in January 2021, they sent a letter of caution to the same journalist and the media outlet Reporters United after they sent them some questions in the context of another report. The company also accused three EOAN employees of attempted fraud and criminal conspiracy.
The practice of sending letters of caution to journalists before they even publish their reports is considered by the European Commission to be part of the phenomenon of Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation, or so-called SLAPPs, which are aimed at silencing critical voices.
In an extensive article on SLAPP cases against journalists in Greece, the International Press Institute – IPI condemned the legal actions of Rewarding Packaging Recycling and other companies that litigate against journalists, arguing that these lawsuits are aimed primarily at silencing journalists.
IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen said. “All of these cases appear to be clear examples of SLAPPs, which are legal cases whose primary aim is to bully the target into silence”, he said. “We fear that these recent cases are the tip of the iceberg of a far deeper problem of legal threats and pressure against journalists carrying out watchdog reporting in Greece. We strongly condemn these types of lawsuits and call upon Greece to urgently pass anti-SLAPP legislation to prevent such cases from ever reaching court.”
Indeed, Greece today lacks specific legislation to protect members of civil society, organisations, the media and journalists from SLAPPs.
Law 1178/81 regulates the basic legal framework of lawsuits against journalists and the media (Government Gazette AD187/16.7.1981 – On civil liability of the press and other provisions). The Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers has called for its repeal, arguing that the law has created the legal basis for a lawsuit industry whose sole purpose is to silence the press and journalists. These lawsuits, they state, are essentially aimed at obstructing investigative journalism and at threatening the financial survival of the media and journalists.
According to paragraph 1, Article 1 of law 1178/81, upon conviction the accused is obliged to pay full monetary compensation for material and non-material damages for a claim that affected the reputation and good name of a person provided that the claim was made with intent, fault or culpable ignorance by the author of the article or, if unknown, the publisher or the director of the media. According to paragraph 5, Article 1 of the same law, the wronged person must also, before filing a lawsuit, contact the author of the material in question, or if unknown, the publisher or editor, calling on them to print a retraction.
These provisions allow politicians, powerful individuals and large corporations to sue media outlets and journalists, demanding huge sums of money as compensation, which is not really aimed at compensating damages, but at intimidating reporters and the media. With its original provisions passed 40 years ago, this law does not contain provisions to protect against Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation, so-called SLAPPs, which aim to intimidate and silence critical voices.
The failure to adopt an effective legal framework for dealing with SLAPP lawsuits effectively leaves the media, journalists and organisations vulnerable to abusive legal attacks by powerful politicians or large multinationals who have the financial means to litigate repeatedly against financially weaker media and journalists in order to silence them. This phenomenon ultimately harms the freedom of the press, which is protected by Article 14 of the Constitution.
As such, the state must take immediate measures to protect against these abusive legal attacks. In fact, the need to adopt such measures is supported by both the European Commission and the European Parliament. The Commission is currently preparing a proposal for a directive to “protect journalists and human rights defenders in strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP).”
In November 2021, the European Parliament also voted in favour of a report calling for new rules within the EU, “to counteract the threat that Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) pose to journalists, NGOs and civil society in Europe.” SLAPPs, they say, are frivolous legal actions based on exaggerated and often abusive claims, aiming to intimidate and professionally discredit their targets, with the ultimate objective of blackmailing and silencing them. Among the measures proposed by the European Parliament is the establishment of rules on early dismissal by the courts so that abusive lawsuits can be stopped quickly based on objective criteria; the claimant should face sanctions if they fail to justify in what way their action is not abusive.
In a state that adheres to the rule of law, both individual rights and the freedom of the press are protected. Journalists have the right to practice their work freely and independently, without censorship or influence.
Despite the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of the press, an anachronistic legal framework in Greece leaves members of civil society and journalists unprotected from abusive legal attacks.
As advocated by both the European Commission and the European Parliament, measures must be adopted to protect journalistic investigation and the freedom of the press.
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