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Description
The funds are crucial for preparing and communicating our response to hatespeech in the media that published content related to the Park of the Erased (»Park izbrisanih«). Hatespeech has been predominantly directed towards the inhabitants who were erased from the Central Population register of Slovenia in 1992 (hereinafter »the erased«) and towards the three authors of the Ć monument placed in the park, who have been discredited in the media. Media practices that enable hatespeech towards minorities and publish false news to discredit individuals are extremely worrysome because they infringe the dignity of the erased as well as the right to creativity and public expression of the monument''s authors.
We believe that:
- due to the hateful comments it is necessary to instigate a criminal complaint against the editor-in-chief of the specific media and against the authors of the the hateful comments based on public promotion of hatred, violence and intolerance (first paragraph of Article 297 of Criminal Code (KZ-1)),
- due to the attempts to personally discredit, defamate and insult the authors we should support the authors in instigating a private criminal complaint of an offence of defamation of honour as well as action for damages.
Summary of project results
The project aimed to achieve more consistent respect and more effective protection of the right to freedom of expression and penalization of hate speech through legal means. Actions that constitute hate speech must be sanctioned to prevent such behaviors from becoming normalized. In this way, fundamental human rights are protected and discrimination against marginalized, vulnerable social groups is prevented.
Through this project, we responded to the increasing presence of hate speech in Slovenia using legal means, thus also developing a prosecution practice in this area. The creators of the Ć monument in the Park of Erased gained more empowerment as they were previously threatened, became targets of media discreditation, false and offensive claims with severe consequences for them, their families, and society as a whole. Through legal action on these issues, the monument''s creators gained hope that perpetrators would be held accountable and the media would have to issue an apology. This increased their trust in the rule of law and enabled them to continue their work more easily.
The project also had a strong impact on the erased people, who are often portrayed in the media as victims of incitement to hatred, violence, and intolerance. However, no one had legally addressed this issue before this project.