Courts deal with disputes concerning police war and late gas supplies from Russia

It is rare that the courts would order someone to stop using defamatory claims about a specific person. For example, in early October, the first-instance court rejected a suit submitted by ex-defence minister Jaroslav Naď against MEP Ľuboš Blaha of Smer for calling him a traitor.

But last year also brought a completely different approach to freedom of speech. Following court decisions, more than 120 posts from Facebook and YouTube written by ex-prime minister Igor Matovič and his Slovensko movement were erased. They contained roughly 600 defamatory statements against oligarch Jaroslav Haščák.

The Relevans law firm, which tops the latest edition of the Largest Law Firms ranking in the Litigation category, listed the decision, issued in March 2023, among the most inspirational cases it has dealt with over the past year.

Other leading lawyers have also been invited by The Slovak Spectator and the Slovak daily Sme to report deals they consider important or inspirational.

In the dispute between Haščák and Matovič, the court dealt with the question of whether there was a reason to issue an emergency measure because of the politician’s posts in which he defamed the businessman in such a way as to be on the verge of hate speech, according to the lawyers.

“The court came to the conclusion that protection must be provided immediately, as the violation of personal rights is quite obvious and if the protection was provided later, it would not be effective,” said Alexander Kadela, managing partner of Relevans.

Alexander Kadela from Relevans, the largest law firm in Slovakia in category Litigation & Arbitration. (source: Jozef Jakubčo)

Matovič called Haščák a thief, corrupt, and a vagrant, and claimed, for example, that by using an accounting trick, he “stole €440 million from money collected via health insurance, money due to be used to cure sick people” through the Dôvera health insurer. The company is owned by the Penta financial group, which Haščák is associated with.

Because Matovič failed to erase the posts even after the appellate court’s decision was issued, and as he had been ordered to do by the emergency measure, the lawyers turned to the companies Meta and Google over the matter.