September 30, 2020
The Zurich District Court has ruled that several pro-government media outlets from Serbia must pay compensation in Swiss Francs (CHF) to Dragan Šolak, co-owner and advisory board chairman of telecommunications and media company United Group, as well as removing all pages containing articles and links to shows through which they violated Šolak’s personal rights, and that they must refrain from repeating such violations in the future and must publish the contents of the court ruling.
In response to lies published about him on a daily basis, Šolak sued Serbia’s leading commercial television company TV Pink, local Belgrade-based television company Studio B, as well as the publisher and owner tabloid newspaper Informer, the country’s highest circulating newspaper. Among United Group’s brands and platforms is N1 television, which is often subjected to negative campaigns led by Serbia’s ruling politicians and pro-government media outlets, while its journalists are the targets of threats and attacks.
Serbia’s ambassador to Switzerland and the top management of the sued Serbian media outlets told representatives of the Serbian media that they had not been informed about the process being led against them, which United Group has refuted, claiming that the defendants were informed both about the dispute and their own rights in the case.
