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DEBATE. A Swedish financier sends lawyers to review Swedish journalists. It might not sound so sensational, if it weren’t for the fact that the businessman, Svante Kumlin, is written in Monaco and the company the journalists examined, Eco Energy World, is registered in the UK. Lawyers who now take journalists to court do so in a country other than the country of publication, and with a method that can be compared to a powerful weapon against, for example, freedom of the press.
Relatively new in Sweden
Finanstidningen Realtid is exposed to SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation), or something simplified: abuse of legal methods to threaten and intimidate someone into keeping quiet. This is common in other countries, but relatively new in Sweden.
SLAPP has become more common as freedom of the press has deteriorated. The method is increasingly used by people in positions of power in business and politics to silence investigative journalists.
The lawyers threaten hefty fines and prison sentences if Realtid does not republish all of the magazine’s articles and also publishes public apologies to Svante Kumlin.
In several articles during September-November, Realtid has examined an imminent listing and sale of unlisted shares on EEW. When Svante Kumlin was asked questions by Realtime reporters Per Agerman and Annelie Östlund, he responded by sending lawyers from the agencies TLT Solicitors in the UK and Gardetto in Monaco to reporters and the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Camilla. Jonsson. This is despite the fact that the Realtime review is based on digital recordings and public documents.
Publication demand
The lawyers threaten heavy fines and prison sentences if Realtid does not republish all of the magazine’s articles and also publishes public apologies to Svante Kumlin. After a lawsuit was filed in a London court last week, notaries came home with reporters and the editor-in-chief with notices in plastic bags.
The threat from Svante Kumlin must be taken seriously. It hides behind foreign law firms in countries where real-time articles have had extremely negligible dissemination or reading. They are written in Swedish for a Swedish audience, posted on a Swedish news site.
In Sweden, there is a press and media ethics system in the form of a Media Ombudsman that Svante Kumlin can turn to if he believes that Realtid has made a mistake in its review. Also today you have the opportunity to have your case tried here in Sweden, where the actual publication was made and where a possible injury has occurred in that case.
Acting villainous
Instead, Svante Kumlin threatens to smear in other countries, well aware that a small online magazine does not have the great legal and financial power that long and expensive foreign trials often require. It is nothing more than a vile way of trying to force journalism to shut up with the help of money.
SLAPP is an effective method to stifle both freedom of speech and of the press. The method requires time, effort and resources from individual reporters and entire media companies. It often leads to other types of threats as well. That is why we and many other press and freedom of expression organizations in Europe demand that the EU legislate against the method.
Withdraw the mood
Svante Kumlin should withdraw the lawsuit and instead act in accordance with general legal conscience. As he acts now, he is shedding light on himself and his business, and there are many reasons for more Swedish media to follow Realtime’s criticism.
By Robert Aschberg
President of the Advertising Club
Jesper bengtsson
President of Swedish PEN
Erik halkjaer
President Reporters Without Borders
Ulrika hyllert
President of the Swedish Journalists Association
