This is reported in Cartooning for Peace. If the plaintiff does not appeal the judgement, it would put an end to a court case that began in 2023, when Krešimir Antolić, former coach of the GNK Dinamo football club, filed a defamation suit against cartoonist Nikole Plečka, who signs his name as Nik Titanik (Zagreb, 1974), for three cartoons published in the sports supplement of the newspaper 24sata in March 2020. Krešimir Antolić also sued the newspaper and won at first instance, but the newspaper appealed.
On Monday 16 June, the president of the Zagreb Municipal Criminal Court ruled that there was no illegality or criminal offence in the case between cartoonist Nik Titanik and Krešimir Antolić, who had sued the cartoonist for insults in connection with cartoons that the demansande considered libellous.
The Court applied Article 148a of the Criminal Code, which excludes any offence if the perpetrator committed the act in the context of"scientific, professional, literary, artistic or public information work, in the exercise of duties prescribed by law, in a political or other public or social activity, in journalistic work or in defence of a right, and if he did so in the public interest or for other justified reasons".
After more than a year and a half of proceedings and several adjournments of hearings, this verdict strongly affirms the role of free criticism of cartoons in the public interest, guaranteed by freedom of expression.
During the trial, Nik Titanik and his lawyer defended the role of cartoons and newspaper cartoons as powerful tools of public criticism. The cartoonist explained that he had caricatured the plaintiff as a figure of public interest, while emphasising that, by definition, cartoons exaggerate and provoke.
He argued that the cartoons were admissible satirical criticism of a public figure. The contested cartoons represent the value judgement of the cartoonist based on statements that were also reported in other media at the time. Many of these facts were even confirmed by the applicant himself, such as his arrival at Dinamo from the police, the recruitment of Mamić as an adviser after his flight to Bosnia and his participation in blacklists.
He also referred to the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights protecting freedom of expression in the context of satire, and highlighted the incorporation of this jurisprudence by the Croatian Constitutional Court. For the Court,"satire is a specific form of artistic expression and social commentary which, by its very nature, seeks to provoke and disturb by exaggerating and distorting reality. Any interference with the right to freedom of expression in this context must be assessed with particular caution".
While I don't understand football at all, let alone Croatian football, these are the cartoons in the lawsuit and their descriptions provided by Caroonist for Peace, which, while I think lack the context of the situations and characters to understand the details and humorous twists, are useful to get an idea of the intentions of the jokes.
In the picture, Krešimir Antolić wearing a badge with the words "druker" (renegade or traitor) on the phone with Zdravko Mamić (executive director of the club from 2013 to 2016, implicated in several scandals) and Zoran Mamić (former player and coach of the club).
Dialogue left: "Yes, Dad, I will! Aye, aye! How's it going in the hole? Quarantine? I'm kissing your ass, have a nice day!". Dialogue right: "Good boy".
Caption: "A look under the microscope reveals the true cause of Dynamo's bad situation".
In the viruses: "Mom (referring to club president Mirko Barišić), secretary, Medjugorje view (referring to Zdravko Mamić's departure to Bosnia-Herzegovina after his trial), Dalton (referring to Zdravko Mamić's brother Zoran), corrupt cop, ass-kisser, sold-out journalist".
"Zdravko Mamić is the club's advisor, but this decision was taken independently by the club's management. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and do a rectal search for new advice".
"On the insignia: "Traitor".
Humour in trouble, a collection of cases
Cases of cartoonists who have had problems of some importance because of their cartoons or satirical illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, without being cartoonists, have got into trouble for sharing them.
