On February 25th 2015, Kosovo Judicial Institute with the support of Thompson Foundation conducted training on “The ECtHR Standards on Defamation”.
Purpose of this training was to inform the participants on defamation from the context of the European Convention on Human Rights and application of the European Court for Human Right practice in local judiciary.
This training elaborated the following: national legal framework and Kosovo case law on defamation, defamation claims as a modern “tool” of public figures against investigation journalists, freedom of expression as one of the basic grounds for democratic society and the right for access to public documents.
An international media law expert presented at this training focusing mainly on standards of the European Court for Human Rights on Defamation Law including here basic elements or means to file an application with the European Court, as well as review process of a case by the ECtHR. Examples from case law of this court were part of this training.
Other aspects elaborated were responsibility of journalists in publishing articles and revealing of sources of information.
Participants were divided in working groups and simulated trials at the ECtHR for two case studies assigned by the trainer.
Beneficiaries at this training were judges, prosecutors, and legal advisors from the Constitutional Court, lawyers, and members of the Independent Media Commission as well as members of the Press Council.
25-02-2015