FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Today investigative journalist Artan Hoxha was declared innocent by the Tirana Court in a case initiated by the Albanian Football Federation, which accused the journalist of defamation. Journalist Hoxha had made several publications on social networks where he severely criticized the long-term President of the AFL regarding the management of the federation, funds, the organization of some friendly matches that seemed not to be in the interest of the Albanian national football team, but more for financial interests . These writings published at different times were often accompanied by harsh, critical and stinging language. This provoked the AFF to initiate a criminal case against the journalist for defamation.
It is worth noting that in the case of libel trials, there are two rights that collide: freedom of expression on the one hand and the right to protect the reputation of the victim, on the other. In this regard, lawyer Dorian Matlija from the "Res Publica" center, with vital support from the National Endowment for Democracy, brought two main arguments before the court:
First, the statements of the journalist Artan Hoxha did not contain the statement of any untrue facts, but were opinions based on facts that happened. The journalist did not have to prove his own opinions, if he proved that there was a sufficient factual basis. Also, the language used by the journalist was for stylistic purposes, to present criticism on an aspect of public interest such as the progress of the sport of football and the Albanian national representative.
Secondly, the right to protect the reputation is indeed a legitimate interest to limit freedom of expression, but this applies to individuals and private legal entities, which due to competition may suffer a decline in economic or social position, losing income or even financial or social capital. While state bodies and public entities are not in competition with anyone, and consequently the protection of their reputation is not a legitimate goal to limit the freedom of expression of journalists or citizens in general. Lawyer Matlija argued that the AFL, despite the fact that it is apparently a "private" organization, it has the attributes of a public entity because according to the sports law it is an exclusive federation, the only one that deals with the sport of football, to which the state has delegated the state function of services for the sport of football. As long as the AFL exercises a function delegated by the state and under exclusive conditions, its reputation cannot be harmed to such an extent as to legitimize the filing of a defamation suit. The AFL must accept the criticism that is given to it, even with stinging language.
This was the essence of the discussions in the trial that took place against the journalist Artan Hoxha, which ended today with an acquittal for the journalist. One of the novelties of this trial was the orientation of the court towards a recent case of the Strasbourg Court, Maria Somogyi v. Hungary with the decision of dt. May 16, 2024, a case which happened to be developed in parallel during the time that the case of the AFL against the journalist Artan Hoxha was being developed in the Court of Tirana. It is indeed to be welcomed that Judge Sokol Pasho's tendency to adopt the position in line with the Strasbourg jurisprudence, once that court guided the member states of the Council of Europe with this new concept concerning how reputation should be treated of state bodies, public entities and any other entity exercising delegated state functions. In this sense, the goal of the journalist Artan Hoxha against the AFL has strategic importance for other cases in the future, enriching the jurisprudence. / Res Publica
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