An online link leading to an initiative to gather support from citizens for a set of principles for constitutional changes in Bosnia was blocked by Facebook over baseless reports by social media users, the NGO’s behind the initiative said.

A few days ago, the Council of the Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals (VKBI), the Croat National Council (HNV), the Serb Civic Council (SGV) and the Forum of Parliamentarians 1990 launched a web application that provides an opportunity for BiH citizens to give their support to a set of principles for changes to the Constitution.

The organisation said they expect that a minimum of 100,000 electronic votes of BiH citizens supporting these ideas will be collected, which would represent the first time that citizens express their opinion on the current constitutional and legal system – an opportunity they did not get since 1996.

“But certain centres of power were obviously bothered by this idea, so they are trying to undermine it at the very beginning. Namely, Facebook blocked the link www.izmjeneustava.com based on reports of users who are bothered by the Principles of Amendments to the Constitution of BiH which are based on sound foundations and civil liberties,” the associations behind the initiative said.

“Destructive campaigns, like the one launched via Facebook, will not distract us nor will we give up. Just the opposite. These vile attempts have once again confirmed that destabilizing forces are waging a hybrid war against democratic, European and civil forces in BiH. We will work even harder because we are convinced that we are on the right path and on the side of healthy civilizational values,” they said.

The associations added that they contacted Facebook over the matter and asked for the link to be returned as it was blocked based on baseless reports.