prijava
SARAJEVO, March 3 (FENA) - The Steering Committee of the BH Journalists Association strongly condemned yesterday's decision of the Government of Republika Srpska to introduce defamation into the Criminal Code of that entity and demands an immediate reaction from representatives of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina to prevent the criminalization of defamation.
The RS Government adopted yesterday the Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of RS, introducing new criminal offenses against honor and reputation, i.e. the criminal offense of insult and defamation. Entity Minister of Justice Miloš Bukejlović announced that fines for the aforementioned crimes will range from 5,000 to 50,000 KM.
The Steering Committee of BH Journalists warns that the process of criminalizing defamation, initiated by the authorities in Republika Srpska, represents an open stifling of media freedom and independent, investigative journalism in that entity.
“The fact that the authorities of the RS have decided, through changes to the existing law, to determine even the amount of fines for defamation, and that the stipulated fines are significantly higher than the amounts that the courts in BiH have so far decided on defamation lawsuits, is nothing more than an institutional attempt at intimidation journalists and the media, especially those who write critically about the government's actions, the suppression of media freedom and the introduction of (auto)censorship,“ announced the BH Journalists Association.
The association emphasizes that certain politicians from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina also support the criminalization of defamation, and it is to be expected that if the Republika Srpska adopts the aforementioned amendments to the Criminal Code, the same can happen in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The journalistic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including around 700 members of the BH Journalists Association from all over the country, is united in the opinion that such processes must be stopped. We now need the support of the international community, especially the OHR, and the Delegation of the EU, the Council of Europe and the OSCE in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which must act accordingly to prevent the criminalization of defamation. Their previous silence and opportune behavior gave Milorad Dodik and his advisors the wind to realize their plans to criminalize defamation and shut down independent media in our country,” BH Journalists Association said.
They reminded that in its report for 2022, the European Commission asked the BiH authorities to guarantee freedom of expression and the media and the protection of journalists as one of the fundamental conditions on the way to membership in the European Union.
Therefore, we invite politicians from both BiH entities to raise their voices and show that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country where freedom of speech and freedom of media are unquestionable as an integral part of the European integration process, stressed the BH Journalists Association.
(FENA) A. B.
