Joost Debucquoy is a Belgian real estate entrepreneur, and patriarch of one of Belgium’s richest families. Debucquoy and his sons sell structurally loss-making leasehold rights to often vulnerable people through different companies. Several legal proceedings are underway against various of these companies and their business model. In 2024, he initiated a €1.2 million SLAPP against the non-profits Samen Sterk! vzw and Erfpacht vzw, as well as one of their directors because of their petition for a ban on investments in leasehold rights by consumers.

Winner: Corporate Bully of the Year 2025.

Clean Tech International, a factory processing animal waste, is suing AER Muntenia, a citizens’ group opposing its operations over pollution and foul odors affecting 50,000 residents in cities Slobozia and Ciulnița. After the group challenged Clean Tech’s permit in court, the company demanded €20 million in damages from individual members if the permit was suspended. They went as far as to record the litigation in the land registries of members, blocking them from selling their homes while the case is ongoing.

Runner up: European SLAPP Contest 2025.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has sued Aktuality.sk editor-in-chief Peter Bárdy and publisher Ringier Slovak Media over Bárdy’s book Fico – Posadnutý Mocou (“Fico – Obsessed with Power”). Filed on 8 August 2024 in Bratislava City Court IV, the lawsuit doesn’t challenge the book’s content but objects to the use of Fico’s photo on the cover. Citing Slovak Civil Code provisions on personality rights, Fico is demanding an apology and €100,000 from each defendant for non-material damages.

Runner up: European SLAPP Contest 2025.

To this day, Danwatch, a Danish investigative outlet, is receiving legal threats from ELWI, a Moscow-based law firm representing Ingosstrakh, a Russian insurance company previously sanctioned by the US and UK. These threats followed a Danwatch-Financial Times investigation into Ingosstrakh’s role in insuring vessels allegedly circumventing Western sanctions. The investigation also raised concerns over environmental risks from these vessels operating without proper sanction coverage.

Winner: People’s Choice Award 2025.

Belgrade Mayor Aleksandar Šapić is attempting to sue the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN Serbia) and its journalists over an article exposing his undeclared €820,000 villa in Trieste. Šapić denied the claims, alleging false reporting and seeking €51,200 in damages for emotional distress. Šapić had previously sued BIRN over their coverage of irregularities in his property legalisation process.

Runner up: European SLAPP Contest 2025.

Between 2019 and 2024, Socfin and major shareholder Hubert Fabri filed multiple SLAPP suits against FIAN Belgium and four other NGOs over reports on land issues in Sierra Leone, also targeting seven individual campaigners. Known for aggressive litigation, Socfin has filed nearly 30 defamation cases in the past decade. Its case against FIAN was delayed due to non-cooperation, prompting a 2023 court-ordered office search. The case was dismissed in October 2024—some claims rejected, others time-barred—and is now closed.

Runner up: European SLAPP Contest 2025.

In August 2022, Jusan Technologies Limited sued The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) for libel over a February article alleging former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev used the UK-registered company to shield an $8 billion empire. Jusan claimed it was falsely portrayed as corrupt and under Nazarbayev’s control. Filed in the High Court of England and Wales, the case was settled in June 2024 with Jusan dropping the lawsuit. The terms are confidential, but TBIJ’s article remains online…

Runner up: European SLAPP Contest 2025.

Runner up: European SLAPP contest 2025.
Hrvatske šume, the state-owned company managing Croatia’s forests, has filed three private prosecutions for criminal defamation against environmental activist Vesna Grgić. The lawsuits target a social media post and a YouTube recording in which Grgić criticised destructive logging practices, including in Natura 2000 sites, and alleged serious irregularities by the company. While Hrvatske šume does not seek compensation, it demands that Grgić be fined an amount linked to Croatia’s average daily personal income, potentially reaching €57,000, excluding court and legal costs.

Winner: Farcical Threat of the Year 2025.

Signature Clinic, a UK cosmetic surgery firm, has aggressively pursued legal threats and lawsuits against at least six former patients who publicly complained about painful and unsatisfactory surgical results. Using defamation and anti-harassment laws, the company sought to silence criticism and force patients to remove negative reviews.

Winner: SLAPP Politician of the Year 2025.

French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati has filed multiple defamation lawsuits against media outlets Le Canard Enchaîné, Le Nouvel Observateur, and Libération over reports on her political and financial dealings, including ties to Azerbaijan, Qatar, and former corporate executives. Despite losing several cases, Dati continues to pursue legal action against journalists.

Runner up: European SLAPP Contest 2025.

Newag Capital Group is suing ethical hackers Dragon Sector and maintenance firm SPS for copyright infringement and unfair competition, demanding €1.37 million in damages. The lawsuit followed Dragon Sector’s December 2023 revelation that Newag trains were programmed to malfunction if serviced by third parties—an issue flagged by a regional rail operator after unexplained breakdowns when using SPS instead of Newag for maintenance.

Runner up: European SLAPP Contest 2025.

Between 2014 and 2018, Belgian developer Creadomus Invest NV misled Belgian buyers – many in vulnerable situations – into purchasing dilapidated German apartments under false pretenses. In response to growing public scrutiny, Creadomus has threatened Samen Sterk!—a volunteer-run support group for victims—with civil and criminal lawsuits and claims of “tens of thousands of euros per week” in damages. In April 2024, its lawyers demanded the group stop referring to buyers as “victims” and accused its Dutch-language website of harming the reputation of the “entire real estate sector” and blocking sales of unsold units.

Runner up: European SLAPP Contest 2025.

Angelos Michalopoulos, a Greek businessman and real estate developer, controls five companies engaged in large-scale tourism and property development on the island of Ios. Since 2022, Mr. Michalopoulos and his associates have filed four linked SLAPP lawsuits—including a criminal case seeking a prison sentence—against Save Ios Association, a small environmental non-profit organisation, who have publicly scrutinised the environmental impact of these projects and their repeated violations of environmental and building laws.

Winner: International Bully of the Year 2025.

Energy Transfer has used SLAPP lawsuits to intimidate its critics, particularly Greenpeace, for opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline. After the 2016-2017 protests at Standing Rock, which gained global attention, Energy Transfer filed a $300 million lawsuit in 2017, falsely accusing Greenpeace of organizing the protests. A U.S. federal judge dismissed the case in 2019, but the company refiled it in North Dakota, continuing its legal attacks. CEO Kelcy Warren openly admitted that the goal was to cut Greenpeace’s funding and discourage activism.

In 2018, Canadian property firm SAKTO and its directors, the daughter of Sarawak’s governor Jamilah Taib and her husband Sean Murray, instigated civil and criminal proceedings against Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF), a human rights and environmental NGO and its executive director, Lukas Straumann. BMF published a number of reports, and a book about the alleged grand corruption under the Taib regime in Sarawak, Malaysia, and the alleged laundering of illicit assets by the Taib family in Canada. Among the charges brought forth by Taib and Murray were infringement of personality rights, defamation, coercion, fraud, and criminal mismanagement. The case has taken five years to make it to the courtroom and has cost BMF several hundred thousand Swiss Francs in the process. SAKTO won International Bully of the Year and the Peoples Choice Award in the 2024 European SLAPP Contest.

On January 25, 2023, Edwy Plenel, the director of publication at Mediapart, received an official letter from Damien Rebourg, the director of communication at Total Energies. The letter contained a stern threat of potential legal consequences should “defamatory accusations” be levied against the company on January 28, 2023. This specific date coincided with Mediapart’s dedicated event addressing Total Energies and its corporate practices. TotalEnergies is the proud recipient of the 2024 European SLAPP Contest’s Farcical Threat of the Year Award.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, and winner of the 2024 European SLAPP Contest’s SLAPP Politician of the Year award, gained attention for her legal actions before assuming the role of the prime minister of Italy in October 2022. One notable incident involved a lawsuit for aggravated defamation against the renowned writer Roberto Saviano. Following the tragic death of a six-month-old baby from Guinea who drowned in a Mediterranean Sea shipwreck, Saviano criticized Meloni’s long-standing anti-migrant rhetoric. In October, a court ordered Saviano to pay a €1000 fine. This is not an isolated incident; Meloni has previously filed a defamation lawsuit against the editors of Domani newspaper, and more recently, she sued a singer from Placebo for calling her a ‘racist’ and a ‘fascist’.

Winner of the 2024 European SLAPP Contest’s highly coveted Corporate Bully of the Year award, Bulgarian insurance company Lev Ins initiated a €500K SLAPP lawsuit against fact-checking news website Mediapool leaving them facing bankruptcy. The legal action is tied to an article covering a statement made by the Minister of Finance during a government session, even though the transcript of the meeting was publicly accessible. Bulgarian watchdogs raise concerns, noting that the requested sum represents the highest-ever compensation claimed against the media in the country’s history.

In 2024, Malta was crowned SLAPP Country of the Year in the European SLAPP Contest. It remains one of the countries with the highest numbers of SLAPPs in Europe. Troubling statistics combined with the long overdue quest for full justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia should prompt Malta to demonstrate a special commitment to enacting comprehensive legislation to protect public watchdogs from abusive lawsuits and set an example for other countries. Meanwhile, the government remains reluctant to implement recommendations on how to enhance the safety of journalists and restore the rule of law envisaged in the Public Inquiry report. Daphne Caruana Galizia remains the most targeted individual by SLAPPs. The work on the EU-wide Directive was induced to honour the journalist’s name.

Russian oligarch and politician Roman Abramovich filed a civil defamation lawsuit in March 2021 through Harbottle & Lewis LLP against Catherine Belton, journalist and author of the book Putin’s People, and HarperCollins, publisher of the said book. The lawsuit concerns statements in “Putin’s People”, which he claimed were untrue or inaccurate. A settlement between the plaintiff and defendants was reached to amend the book and correct false claims. Had the libel trial gone ahead in the high court, the legal bill was likely to have exceeded £10 million.

The Russian billionaire and industrialist launched a legal attack against a number of journalists and activists this summer following the publication of an investigation that alleged, among other things, that Deripaska gave bribes to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The lawsuit targeted, among others, Alexei Navalny and the UK-based DMG Media company, and demanded – among other things – that Navalny remove from the Internet a photo of Deripaska and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. 

A Serbian businessman, Subotić filed a large-scale civil defamation lawsuit in Geneva in January 2021 against the media outlet Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the OCCRP publisher Drew Sullivan and Dragana Péco, a journalist of Serbian media partner KRIK, demanding 155,000 Swiss francs in damages – two years after the publication of an article. Subotic has record of SLAPPs: a previous case in the UK against Ratkno Knezevic was dismissed as an abuse of process in 2013.

Domiciled in Monaco, Kumlin filed a civil lawsuit alleging defamation and breach of an NDA against Swedish news website Realtid, who had been investigating Kumlin’s group of companies, Eco Energy World (EEW). The journalists contacted Kumlin numerous times prior to- and after publishing the report. Kumlin’s sole reply was that his legal counsel “will respond to [them] directly”, followed by several emails and attached letters from law firms in the UK and Monaco. The defamation claim reportedly totalled a whopping €15.3 million.

In 2021, the Kingdom of Morocco filed civil defamation lawsuits as well as an injunction and a slander lawsuit in French, German, and Spanish courts against several NGOs, newspapers, radio broadcasters and individual journalists and reporters after they published investigative work alleging that the Moroccan administration used Pegasus spyware to spy on the mobile phones of politicians, journalists and activists.

Turkey has become notorious for threatening and silencing journalists in recent times, and Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has a good claim to being one of the worst offenders. A €100,000 lawsuit SLAPP-ed onto Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet in 2021 was just the cherry on the cake – Soylu has an extensive history of eyebrow-raising tricks when it comes to silencing.

Dimitriadis, the then-Secretary General to the prime minister (as well as his nephew) is on our radar this year after filing expensive lawsuits against Reporters United, Efimerida ton Syntakton (EfSyn), and three journalists, after media stories were published about allegedly illegal practices by the government.

Mcdonald is not new to the SLAPP scene. However, April 2022 cemented the President of Sinn Féin’s reputation as a SLAPP politician after she filed her third defamation case in the High Court. This time, the victim is the Irish public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), SLAPP-ed with a case amounting to some €160,000.

Kelkos Energy is a Hydroelectric Power Generation company, which filed two separate lawsuits against two well-known environmental activists for speaking out about the damage caused to the surrounding environment. The lawsuits asked for €10,000 and €100,000 in damages and created – with the help of a letter sent to 60 NGOs and activists warning them about the lawsuit – a chilling effect on activists and citizens in the area.

The company Valle de Odieta S.C.L owns what may be Spain’s largest industrial cow farm in the North of Spain. Now it’s behind a gigantic factory farm project that’s planned to be built in the small town of Noviercas. The company filed a defamation lawsuit in March 2022 against Greenpeace Spain and its head, as well as 13 other NGOs after the groups delivered a report to the Parliament of Navarra on the company’s environmental practices.

Taylor Wessing LLP is a UK law firm located in London, whose notoriety in facilitating SLAPPs and acts of legal intimidation against public participants – particularly journalists and publishing companies – reached new heights this year. In 2021, they represented various Russian and Kazakh oligarchs in expensive legal actions against e.g.  the Financial Times and journalist Tom Burgis. More recently, they issued legal threats to newsrooms across Britain on behalf of UK Prime Minister Liz Truss’ Chief of Staff, Mark Fullbrook.

Vrban is the President of the County Court in Osijek. He is one of the most powerful judges in Croatia as he presides over one of the largest courts in the country. He has filed six civil lawsuits in less than two years against Telegram, its editor in chief Jelena Valentić, and Drago Hedl, the award-winning Croatian journalist and author of articles investigating suspected ethical misconduct on the part of the judge. The total amount sought in the complaints is around €120,000 in damages.

Damen is a Belgian lawyer, who has filed multiple lawsuits against the news site Apache on behalf of his client, Erik van der Paal, a project developer. Apache was hit with several proceedings on grounds of civil defamation and breach of reputation as well as for stalking and invasion of privacy under criminal law. All civil actions against Apache were dismissed and in a criminal case (the journalists of) Apache were acquitted. The Antwerp Court of Appeal ultimately found the legal action against Apache to have been an abuse of process as it had been pursued “with the intention of (financially) exhausting the defendants into silence”.