{
  "title": "Search: insult and defamation laws in Serbia, national level",
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  "filters": {
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  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
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      {
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        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 104,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 104th of 180",
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        "label": "1990s",
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    {
      "slug": "1998-serbia-public-information-act-fines",
      "title": "Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger",
      "occurred_on": "1998-10-20",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "RS",
      "country_name": "Serbia",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "RS",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
      "tactics": [
        "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
        "insult_and_defamation_laws"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "slobodan-milosevic",
      "leader_name": "Slobodan Milosevic",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Independent Serbian media's coverage of NATO's escalating confrontation with Yugoslavia over Kosovo through 1998 and 1999.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "2000-10-01",
      "outcome_note": "The law was suspended after Milosevic lost power in October 2000 elections and a change of government in Serbia.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
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        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 104,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 104th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1990s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Serbia's parliament passed a Public Information Act allowing courts to levy same-day fines against newspapers for vaguely defined offenses against the state's interests, and independent papers were fined far more often and more heavily than pro-government ones.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1998-serbia-public-information-act-fines"
    }
  ],
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
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}