Tomorrow, citizen organization TOKA, led by Catherine Bohne, is due in court against Dragobia Energy ShPK (a limited liability holding company owned by Gener 2) over the construction of HPP Dragobia in Tropoje.
In 2018, TOKA and Bohne filed criminal charges against Dragobia Energy for working with an expired construction permit. Seven local people were listed to testify that work on the HPP was continuing.
All that was required was the status of the permit to be checked and the prosecutor to drive down the road to see the work allegedly continuing on site. Instead, this did not happen and no action was taken. Under Albanian law, the prosecutor has three months to complete their investigation and notify the court but again, this did not happen.
In the summer, the seven witnesses were called to the prosecutor’s office to discuss the case. After this meeting, the witnesses did not appear at any subsequent hearings.
In December 2020, Bohne and the seven witnesses were called to testify at Tropoje Court. On the day, only Bohne arrived to find the court was closed due to COVID-19.
A second hearing was scheduled by mail for two weeks later.
For this hearing, only Bohne and the HPP manager showed up. During this hearing, it was announced that Gener 2, on behalf of Dragobia Energy, requested a postponement so their lawyer Mine Progonati could come from Tirana. She has never attended the court before.
The next date was set for 12 January 2021.
Progonati didn’t attend that hearing as she reported that she had COVID. The hearing was again rescheduled for 26 January but on the day, she did not show up. Activists who spoke to Exit said that instead, she submitted a note from her doctor saying she was too sick to attend work for the whole week of 25-29 January.
Despite this, she appeared in court in Tirana on 27 January to request that the judge be dismissed in an appeal on TOKA’s 2017 request that the courts halt construction pending legal resolution.
Tomorrow’s case will be held in a close court meaning those not directly involved in the case cannot attend. The hearing is supposed to be recorded and the tapes made public.
The proposed powerplants have been met with strong opposition from residents and civil society.
Bohne found herself a target due to her action against hydropower plants in the area. In 2016, she found she was being pursued by the Immigration Police who were accusing her of being an unregistered immigrant- something that was not true.
Then, criminal charges were filed against her for so-called “dangerous threats” but the case was subsequently thrown out of court for being completely baseless in terms of facts. The authorities then went after the Selimaj family who she had been living with for seven years, trying to find some irregularity and threatening them with charges and penalties.
Lastly, the local electricity authority made a number of arrests for “meter-tampering and electricity theft” against business owners who had been speaking up against the hydropower plant development. She was arrested and held for 72 hours whilst a media smear campaign was launched against her.
