During a training session organized by the Council of Europe in Teslić on 26–27 November 2024, 20 judges and prosecutors acquired new knowledge about the latest standards for countering strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs). These standards include the Council of Europe’s Recommendation CM/Rec(2024)2 on countering the use of SLAPPs, as well as the European Union Directive (EU) 2024/1069 on protecting individuals participating in public debates from manifestly unfounded claims or abusive legal proceedings.

Defamation cases are the most commonly used form of SLAPPs, making this topic a critical and ongoing focus of capacity-building sessions for judges and prosecutors. Furthermore, since the re-criminalization of defamation in Republika Srpska in 2023, new challenges arose in applying these provisions while safeguarding the principle of freedom of expression, as outlined in Council of Europe standards—primarily Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights—and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

Through case studies, participants examined indicators for identifying SLAPP cases. They were also presented with a recent study of the Western Balkans' legal systems, which explored opportunities for integrating anti-SLAPP mechanisms. The study, titled “Regional Baseline Assessment of Legislative and Policy Needs for Implementation of Council of Europe and European Union Standards on Countering the Use of SLAPPs,” was developed as part of the PROFREX regional action. Participants had the opportunity to provide feedback on its findings.

 The capacity-building session on countering strategic lawsuits against public participation was organised in collaboration with two entity centres for training of judges and prosecutors.

The training session was organised as part of the action “Protecting freedom of expression and of the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina (PROFREX)” implemented by the Division for Co-operation on Freedom of Expression of the Council of Europe as part of the joint European Union and the Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”.