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SARAJEVO/LONDON, October 20 (FENA) - Ahead of a court hearing on Monday in Istočno Sarajevo, Amnesty International urges BUK, a hydropower company owned by Belgian-based Green Invest to drop their defamation suits against two local activists who publicly expressed concerns about the potential environmental impact of the company’s small hydropower plants on the Kasindolska river.
Sunčica Kovačević and Sara Tuševljak, the two activists, received the lawsuits after they challenged environmental permits granted to the company, and publicly voiced their concerns about the potential irreparable damage to the river and its surrounding ecosystem.
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.
Earlier this year, BUK filed three defamation lawsuits against the two activists, seeking 7,500 EURO in damages and threatening further legal action if the activists continue speaking publicly on the issue.
“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.
Amnesty International has analyzed 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.
SLAPPs are lawsuits that seek to silence or intimidate those who publicly criticize or expose the wrongdoing of those in power, including governments and corporations. SLAPPs unduly restrict the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association and discourage the public from exposing wrongful conduct by those in power.
SLAPPs usually seek unfounded or disproportionate damages, with the intention of intimidating or silencing critical voices on issues of public interest, such as the environment. SLAPPs are increasingly being used to muzzle the work of human rights defenders and journalists across Europe, Amnesty International announced.
(FENA) A. B.
