{
  "title": "Incidents: lawsuits against the press in Europe",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?continent=europe&tactic=lawsuits_against_press",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "europe",
    "tactic": "lawsuits_against_press"
  },
  "sort": "date",
  "count": 2,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "per_page": 50,
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "facets": {
    "country": [
      {
        "value": "MT",
        "label": "Malta",
        "rsf": null
      },
      {
        "value": "RU",
        "label": "Russia",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 172,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      }
    ],
    "continent": [
      {
        "value": "europe",
        "label": "Europe"
      }
    ],
    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "lawsuits_against_press",
        "label": "Lawsuits against the press",
        "count": 2
      }
    ],
    "stage": [
      {
        "value": "pressure",
        "label": "Pressure",
        "count": 2
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 2
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "ongoing",
        "label": "Ongoing",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "unknown",
        "label": "Unknown",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "joseph-muscat",
        "label": "Joseph Muscat"
      },
      {
        "value": "vladimir-putin",
        "label": "Vladimir Putin"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2010s",
        "label": "2010s",
        "count": 2
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "2017",
        "label": "2017",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2018",
        "label": "2018",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 2
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2018-russia-fines-the-new-times",
      "title": "Russia: outlet fined $338,000 under the foreign agents law",
      "occurred_on": "2018-10-26",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "RU",
      "country_name": "Russia",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "RU",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press",
      "tactics": [
        "lawsuits_against_press"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "vladimir-putin",
      "leader_name": "Vladimir Putin",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Not stated in the sources reviewed.",
      "outcome": "ongoing",
      "outcome_on": "2018-10-26",
      "outcome_note": "The outlet's editor said she would appeal the fine; the source reviewed does not report the appeal's result.",
      "stage": "pressure",
      "ladder_note": "A court fined an outlet $338,000 over a foreign agents paperwork lapse, a sum its editor said was designed to force its closure; United States lawsuits against the press have not sought a fine that could end an outlet's operations.",
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 172,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2010s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "A Moscow court fined the magazine The New Times 22.3 million rubles, about $338,000, for a paperwork lapse under Russia's foreign agents law, a sum its editor said was designed to force the outlet to close.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-russia-fines-the-new-times"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2017-malta-freezes-caruana-galizia-account",
      "title": "Malta: minister orders reporter's bank account frozen",
      "occurred_on": "2017-02-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "month",
      "country": "MT",
      "country_name": "Malta",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "MT",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press",
      "tactics": [
        "lawsuits_against_press"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "joseph-muscat",
      "leader_name": "Joseph Muscat",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Not stated in the sources reviewed.",
      "outcome": "unknown",
      "outcome_on": null,
      "outcome_note": "The source reviewed does not report the freeze being lifted before her 2017 killing; five people were later sentenced over the killing itself between 2022 and 2026, while defamation suits continued against her family.",
      "stage": "pressure",
      "ladder_note": "A minister ordered a reporter's bank account frozen a month after her story on his colleagues, one of dozens of suits filed against her before her killing; United States lawsuits against the press in the record have not frozen a journalist's assets.",
      "rsf": null,
      "era": "2010s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "A month after journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia published reporting on members of Malta's government, the economy minister had her bank account frozen, one of dozens of legal actions she faced before she was killed in a car bombing in October 2017.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2017-malta-freezes-caruana-galizia-account"
    }
  ],
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    "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.json?continent=europe&tactic=lawsuits_against_press",
    "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.md?continent=europe&tactic=lawsuits_against_press"
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}