Portal 021 was convicted in the first instance, according to the lawsuit Nemanja Sarovic, due to the statement of the President of the Assembly of Serbia Ana Brnabić. According to the verdict, 021 should pay Šarović 70.000 dinars (with default interest) for compensation for non-material damages for mental pain suffered due to injury to honor and reputation, and because of the words sent by a high-ranking state official, which 021 faithfully conveyed. Also, 021 should pay RSD 85.000 for the costs of the litigation.
Portal 021 points out that this is just one of several absurd lawsuits that 021 has been facing in the last few months.
Nemanja Šarović sued 021 because on November 26, 2024, a text was published, taken from the website of Radio-television of Serbia, with the title "Brnabić: The opposition wants a civil war, the incident in the Parliament was announced in advance".
In question is Ana Brnabić's reaction to the riots that previously occurred in the Assembly.
The disputed part of the text appears in the sixth paragraph, in which Ana Brnabić called Nemanja Šarović "Đilas' mercenary".
"This would mean that no media should ever publish anyone's statement."
Lawyers 021 rejected Šarović's lawsuit, pointing out that Ana Brnabić's words were never conveyed as the opinion of the media, and that the media cannot be held responsible for the statements of third parties.
"If the prosecutor's point of view were to be accepted, it would mean that no media should ever publish anyone's statement because it would automatically mean that the media gives full trust to that statement and could be responsible for the same," the lawyers pointed out.
Although Nemanja Šarović's lawyer stated at the trial that the newsroom had received his denials, 021 contested this, which the judge of the High Court in Belgrade accepted. It is stated that it is "Ana Brnabić's statement was transmitted completely and reliably".
The court also found that "Public figures, which the prosecutor (Šarović) is indisputable, unlike private persons, have to suffer an increased level of criticism in the media".
Nevertheless, the court considers that the information from the text violates the dignity of the prosecutor's personality and that the publication of Ana Brnabić's statement did not comply with the standard of due journalistic attention, and determined the above-mentioned fine.
Portal 021 reminds that after the conflict between the representatives of the government and the opposition in the Parliament of Serbia, Brnabić was a guest on the morning Dnevnik of the public service and that was the first reaction of the officials after the conflict. The complete text was transferred from the RTS website in its entirety, without any additions, insertion of sentences, with the use of quotation marks and with a clear indication in several places from where it was transferred and linking to the original article.
021 is waiting for several more bizarre trials in which large sums are sought from the injured parties. It is about the publication of testimonies during daily protests last year, which were caused after the tragedy at the Novi Sad railway station.
Publication of testimonies that a gendarme hit a plainclothes policeman during "blockade" of the RTS building, and not one of the protesters as originally stated by the highest representatives of the government, as well as the video in which a woman in a car runs into the gathered citizens and injures a girl, are some of the trials that are yet to come.
Source: 021.rs
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