Zivkovic Samardzic has successfully represented KRIK and its editor-in-chief Stevan Dojcinovic before the High Court in Belgrade in a dispute against Nenad Popovic, the Serbian Minister responsible for innovation and technological development.
KRIK is a non-profit organization established to improve investigative journalism in Serbia.
The claim of Minister Nenad Popovic against KRIK regarding an article it published titled “Paradise Papers are not an attack on Popovic but an international project“ was rejected by the High Court.
The first-instance court determined that the public interest of having the information about the plaintiff published on KRIK’s website outweighed the Minister’s private interest in protecting his dignity, honor, and reputation. Also, the court made a point that “one cannot expect from journalists to only convey the information verbatim. A journalist is entitled to interpret that information, with the observance of a journalistic due diligence standard, which the journalists of KRIK did.”
Zivkovic Samardzic has represented KRIK in other matters in the past, including earlier this year in a dispute with the editor-in-chief of Informer, a Serbian tabloid. (As reported by CEE Legal Matters on March 21, 2019).
The Zivkovic Samardzic team was led by Partner Kruna Savovic.
