TI BIH: All Citizens Will Suffer the Consequences of Changes to the Criminal Code in the Republic of Srpska

Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina warns that the re-criminalization of defamation in the Republic of Srpska will have huge consequences for all citizens who could be prosecuted for spoken public words. If the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska adopts the Proposal of the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Srpska, which will be presented to the deputies on Tuesday, it will create the possibility to initiate criminal proceedings against journalists, activists and opposition politicians who speak publicly, as well as against all citizens who present their opinion on social networks and other public places.

Regardless of the fact that the authorities have given up on the draconian fines foreseen by the draft of this law, TI BiH warns that with this level of political influence on the judiciary, there will be numerous possibilities of pressure on individuals who only expressed different opinion. All citizens against whom criminal proceedings will be conducted due to their public speech may face police searches, confiscation of personal documents, restriction of freedom of movement, and will not be able to compete in any public competition until the end of the criminal proceedings. It should also be pointed out that the adoption of such amendments to the Law will create numerous obstacles for the work of media houses throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will lead to censorship and self-censorship of the media, further jeopardizing the work of journalists.

These are just some of the consequences of the criminalization of defamation, which is why, in the OSCE’s opinion, submitted to deputies in materials, the authorities are urged to refrain from sanctioning public speech through the criminal justice system, including sanctioning through the criminalization of defamation.

Despite numerous warnings from journalists, civil society organizations and the international community, including the reactions of the rapporteurs of the United Nations, the European Union, the Council of Europe and numerous others, the government does not give up on creating a legal prerequisite for open repression of citizens who express different opinion. Ignoring all these warnings shows that faking a public debate in the past period was solely for the purpose of creating the appearance of public participation in decision-making and that all decisions are made outside of institutions and democratic procedures.

Press-rls_12.07.23