Energy Company Drops Lawsuits Against Kosovo Environment Activists, 20 October 2021

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International on Wednesday welcomed the decision of an Austrian-based energy company to withdraw lawsuits against two Kosovo environmental activists who campaigned for years against the construction of hydropower plants in western Kosovo.

In June, Amnesty International called on KelKos Energy, a company that operates hydropower plants in a protected area in western Kosovo, to withdraw two lawsuits against Shpresa Loshaj and Adriatik Gacaferi and considered that the lawsuits had been filed in an attempt to silence them.

“Kelkos Energy was using these lawsuits to intimidate and silence activists from speaking out about the possible environmental damage caused by the company’s exploitation of Kosovo’s natural resources. Kelkos Energy’s decision to immediately and unconditionally drop these lawsuits is a victory for freedom of expression, but Shpresa Loshaj and Adriatik Gacaferi should have never been sued in the first place,” Jelena Sesar, Western Balkans researcher at Amnesty International, said on Wednesday.

In 2020, through two different lawsuits, the company sought 100,000 euros from Loshaj and 10,000 euros from Gacaferri after they campaigned against the hydropower plants. Loshaj, founder of the NGO Pishtaret, and Adriatik Gacaferi, a local activist from Decan/Decani, have been two of most vocal campaigners against the projects...

Strategic lawsuits against public participation, SLAPPs, have become a frequently used tool by governments and corporations to target and harass human rights defenders and journalists exposing the wrongdoing of those in power.

KelKos Energy, which is a subsidiary of the Austria-based public energy provider Kelag International, told Amnesty International in June that the lawsuits were a measure of last resort to defend themselves against “slanderous statements” in court...