Pro Publico was honoured to join The Coalition against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) in-person meeting in Sofia for a double occasion:
1️⃣ our annual in-person 2026 strategy meeting
and
2️⃣ the fifth ★European SLAPP Contest ★
Where Strategy Meets Accountability
Last week, Pro Publico ASBL travelled to Sofia as part of the CASE (Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe) annual gathering. The two-day meeting brought together civil society organisations from across the continent for a double agenda: mapping out the coalition’s strategic priorities for the rest of 2026, and hosting the fifth edition of the European SLAPP Contest – an event that does exactly what its name suggests.
The timing was anything but coincidental. With the 7 May deadline for EU Member States to transpose the Anti-SLAPP Directive into national law now passed, Sofia became an impromptu checkpoint: how far have we come, and is the promise of legal protection for journalists and activists finally becoming real?
Flipping the Script on Legal Bullying
SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) are a well-documented tool of intimidation. Powerful individuals and corporations file costly, often meritless legal actions not to win in court, but to drain the resources and morale of those who criticise them. The targets are typically investigative journalists, environmental activists, and NGOs. The goal is silence.
The European SLAPP Contest turns that dynamic on its head. Rather than allowing SLAPP filers to hide behind litigation, the contest names them publicly – awarding tongue-in-cheek trophies that carry very real reputational weight.
Behind each category is a story that goes well beyond legal proceedings:
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SLAPP Addict of the Year
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SLAPP Politician of the Year
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Corporate Bully of the Year
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Green Gag Award
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SLAPP Jurist 2026
Find out this year’s winners here: https://www.the-case.eu/
A Data Point Worth Sitting With
CASE’s Annual Report 2025 shows that SLAPPs continue to rise across Europe – and are evolving. Claimants are diversifying beyond traditional defamation suits, reaching for privacy claims, copyright, and data protection law as alternative vectors. This is the kind of legal complexity that makes pro bono support not just useful but essential: most targeted individuals simply cannot afford to map these risks without help.
It is also a reminder that the Anti-SLAPP Directive, while a landmark achievement, addresses only one layer of the problem. Structural legal support for civil society – the kind that Pro Publico and its partner law firms provide – remains indispensable.
“The contest does something legally important: it makes the costs of SLAPP litigation visible. For years, we have helped connect law firms with organisations facing these exact pressures. What struck me most in Sofia was how many targets said that solidarity – knowing others were watching, that someone would pick up the phone – mattered as much as the legal support itself.” — Francesco Zatelli, managing director at Pro Publico ASBL
What Comes Next
The Sofia meeting allowed CASE members to align on priorities for the remainder of 2026, with transposition monitoring and documentation of emerging SLAPP typologies at the top of the agenda. For Pro Publico, it reinforced that the pro bono ecosystem and the anti-SLAPP movement are natural allies – and that there is more to build together.
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