Amnesty International urged BUK, a hydropower company owned by Belgian-based Green Invest, to drop their defamation suits against two Bosnian activists who publicly expressed concerns about the potential environmental impact of the company’s small hydropower plants on the Kasindolska river.

The Bosnian company BUK, which is fully owned by Belgian company Green Invest, operates one small hydropower plant and plans to construct two additional ones on the Kasindolska river, filed three defamation lawsuits against the two activists, Suncica Kovacevic and Sara Tusevljak, seeking 7,500 EURO in damages and threatening further legal action if the activists continue speaking publicly on the issue.

According to Amnesty International, the two were sued “after they challenged environmental permits granted to the company and publicly voiced their concerns about the potentially irreparable damage to the river and its surrounding ecosystem. “

“Time and time again, we have seen how powerful corporations try to intimidate those who speak out against them. When faced with public scrutiny, corporations are increasingly filing untrue or abusive claims to silence critical voices and discourage further debate on matters of public importance. Sunčica and Sara are facing these baseless lawsuits simply because they publicly criticized uncontrolled deforestation and soil erosion that they believed occurred as a result of the construction of these hydropower dams on a river near where they grew up” said Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.

The organisation said it analysed legal documents and other materials related to the cases and concluded that the lawsuits “bear the hallmarks of Strategic Lawsuits for Public Participation (SLAPPs), including aggressive and disproportionate remedies sought by the corporation and an apparent attempt to exploit their economic and political power to stifle the activists.”

Amnesty International describes SLAPPs as lawsuits that “seek to silence or intimidate those who publicly criticize or expose the wrongdoing of those in power, including governments and corporations.”

“Sunčica and Sara are among a growing number of young activists across BiH and the wider region who are standing up against the seemingly unchecked exploitation of natural resources by large multinational companies. They are demanding that the authorities properly assess the long-term risks of these energy projects, consult with the people who are directly impacted by them, and exercise greater oversight over development projects, instead of solely prioritizing profit,” said Eve Geddie.

“Green Invest and their subsidiary in Bosnia should immediately withdraw these lawsuits, and allow people to freely debate the impact of their hydropower plants on the local community. The authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina must guarantee a safe and enabling environment in which environmental defenders can express their concerns without fear of legal reprisals, including by protecting activists and journalists from this vexatious use of the law,” she stressed.

“To add insult to injury, these unfounded defamation claims come from a company from Belgium that has no stake in the environment or life here. They have not spent their life on this river: they haven’t enjoyed its beauty, nor can they see what the construction of small hydropower plants has done to it and the forest around it. We get the impression that the foreign company claims more rights to the river than we who were born and live here,” said Kovacevic.