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The Court of Appeal in North Macedonia upheld a defamation ruling against journalists from the Investigative Reporting Lab, a local partner of OCCRP, in a case brought by businessman and former Deputy Prime Minister Kočo Angjušev. Press freedom advocates said the decision underscores a growing pattern of legal intimidation against reporters covering matters of public interest.
The Skopje court upheld a verdict issued after a retrial against IRL and its editor-in-chief, Saška Cvetkovska.
Angjušev’s original defamation claim, filed in 2021 over IRL’s documentary “Conspiracy Against the Air,” was initially dismissed by the Civil Court as unfounded.
After Kočo Angjušev appealed, the appellate court ordered a retrial that moved significantly faster than IRL’s own appeal, the outlet said. During the retrial, no new evidence was presented, yet the court reversed the earlier decision and ruled in Angjušev’s favor. The presiding judge was later disciplinarily sanctioned by the Judicial Council for excluding the public from the courtroom.
In its written ruling, the court went beyond the defamation claim, asserting that IRL does not qualify as a media organization and that its editor-in-chief, Saška Cvetkovska, is not a journalist — a position press advocates say threatens the right to conduct investigative reporting in the public interest.
The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) and the Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM) called the decision “a dangerous” precedent, “whereby the court and state institutions assume the authority to determine what constitutes a media outlet, who qualifies as a journalist, and who is allowed to engage in journalistic activity.” They also noted the case has been flagged as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) in international media freedom monitoring platforms.
The dispute stems from reporting produced as part of a cross-border investigation by OCCRP and IRL into heavily polluting oil allegedly used to heat public hospitals in North Macedonia.
International press freedom groups — including the International Federation of Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists, the International Press Institute, and the Pulitzer Center — condemned the original 2023 verdict against IRL.
IRL said it plans to appeal to North Macedonia’s Supreme Court and, if necessary, take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. AJM and SSNM said they will continue to monitor the proceedings closely and support the journalists in pursuing all available domestic and international legal remedies.
