MANS Wins 7-Year SLAPP Battle Against Businessman Bećirović: Supreme Court Rejects His Appeal

After nearly seven years, the court proceeding initiated by businessman Zoran Bećirović and his company “Caldero Trading Limited” against the Network for Affirmation of the NGO Sector (MANS) and the dailies “Vijesti” and “Dan” has ended with a final judgment.

On July 9, 2026, the Supreme Court rejected Bećirović’s revision and upheld the earlier rulings of the Basic Court and the High Court in Podgorica, which had declared the plaintiffs’ claims unfounded. Bećirović and his company had sought €58,000 jointly, the removal of the contested statements and articles from the portals, and the publication of the court ruling at the defendants’ expense.

The courts found that the case concerned a matter of undoubted public interest: the public has the right to know about the affairs and wealth of high public officials, and MANS and the media, through their publications, contributed to legitimate public debate. MANS assessed the proceeding as a SLAPP lawsuit, whose essential aim was not merely the protection of reputation but the creation of financial and institutional pressure to deter investigations into the links between capital, political power, and the judiciary.

In its statement, MANS warns that SLAPP lawsuits continue to be used as a tool against the civil sector: the Basic Court in Podgorica is also hearing the case brought by former PES MP Miodrag Laković over the May 2025 publications concerning his previous work in the police.

In parallel, Montenegro’s Prva Banka has initiated proceedings against MANS’s executive deputy director, Dejan Milovac, over a statement made on a television program about the bank’s business; the first main hearing is scheduled for Thursday, September 24, before the Basic Court in Podgorica.

Source: Vijesti