Hunger strike begins in protest of cemetery removal at EBRD coal mine in Serbia

May 30, 2012

Belgrade – An official from the southern Serbian town of Vreoci has begun a hunger strike on Monday to protest against what he considers the unlawful exhumation of a local cemetery to make way for coal extraction at the nearby Kolubara mine. Last year the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development approved a loan of 80 million euros to support the expansion of lignite mining at Kolubara.

The exhumations are being conducted by state-owned Elektroprivreda Srbija (EPS), the company in charge of the coal mine. Zeljko Stojkovic, the official on hunger strike, has said he will continue his protest until the exhumations – which are currently under dispute by Serbian judicial courts – are discontinued.

"The Vreoci municipality owns the local cemetery and without the municipality’s approval the cemetery cannot be moved," says Stojkovic.

This is but one in a series of controversies plaguing the EPS Kolubara coal mine. During the last year, over 28 current and past EPS managers have been arrested over allegations of embezzling company funds. Locals that are being resettled to make way for the mining expansion have repeatedly complained that the resettlement is being done without them being properly consulted and to locations they’ve deemed inappropriate.

In spite of these problems, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development approved last year an 80 million euro loan to EPS in support of coal mining operations at Kolubara. EPS has repeatedly benefited from EBRD loans in the past.

"Kolubara is a particularly egregious example of where the EBRD has supported a project that is likely to bring in good money, regardless of how dirty its local partners are or how many human rights abuses are committed in the process," said Zvezdan Kalmar of Bankwatch. "The bank is right now reviewing its mining policy and the experience of Kolubara should really push them not only to introduce very strict criteria for the projects and partners it chooses but also to reconsider their general approach of jumping into mining projects just because they bring in money, no matter the social and environmental costs."

Notes for the editors:

(1) The cemetery in Vreoci lies on an estimated 50 million tonnes of lignite coal and its exhumation is a precondition for digging an additional 600 million tonnes of lignite lying under the Vreoci municipality.

The Vreoci resettlement was agreed in 2007 after years of protests, negotiation and parliamentary discussions in the City of Belgrade, in which the Vreoci municipality has administrative jurisdiction.

Estimates are that the resettlement will finalise in 2012 and 2013 and that excavation of lignite reserves will begin in full swing in 2014.

(2) Read more about coal mining at Kolubara:
http://bankwatch.org/our-work/projects/kolubara-lignite-mine-serbia

(3) Read about the corruption scandal surrounding EPS:
http://bankwatch.org/news-media/for-journalists/press-releases/ebrd-boar...

(4) Read a letter from the Vreoci community to the EBRD complaining about abuses committed by EPS and asking for withdrawal of financial support to EPS:
http://bankwatch.org/publications/vreoci-community-requests-ebrd-suspend...

(5) Read about the EBRD mining policy review:
http://bankwatch.org/news-media/for-journalists/press-releases/ebrd-fres...