May 2025

by Ileana Nicolescu & Denisa Dragusin

World Press Freedom Day, celebrated annually on May 3 marks a major step this year toward protecting journalists from abusive lawsuits, known as SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation). These lawsuits are often used as tools of intimidation—designed to silence those who expose matters of public interest by burdening them with costly and lengthy legal battles.

The Anti-SLAPP Directive—Directive (EU) 2024/1069—mandates EU member states to implement procedural safeguards for those targeted by such lawsuits, particularly journalists and human rights defenders. Its goal is to ensure that unfounded or abusive claims against public participation are identified early and dismissed promptly.

Romania has started to transpose this directive into national law through a draft bill published in April 2025. While the proposal is a step forward, questions remain about whether key provisions—such as the mechanism for rapid dismissal and the extension of protections to purely domestic cases—will be retained in the final legislation.

The full version of the story is available in Romanian HERE.

BACIU PARTNERS, with a team led by Ana-Maria Baciu and including Ileana Nicolescu and Denisa Drăgușin, proudly represented the investigative platform CONTEXT in a legal dispute arising from the publication of a journalistic investigation exposing misuse of public funds.  The team secured a court decision rejecting the lawsuit—an important win for press freedom and democratic accountability.