As of today, the changes to the BiH Criminal Code, which were made in the form of a resolution by the former High Representative in BiH Valentin Inzko, will no longer apply in the Republic of Srpska.
Towards the end of his term of office, former High Representative Valentin Inzko imposed amendments to the BiH Criminal Code that introduce criminal liability for denial of genocide and other crimes condemned by national and international courts.
“I proclaim the law on the failure to apply the High Representative’s decision to pass the law amending the Criminal Code of BiH, which was passed by the Republic of Srpska National Assembly at its twentieth special session on July 30, 2021,” the decree said by president of the Republic of Srpska Zeljka Cvijanovic.
Article 1 states that “the decision of the High Representative does not apply to the territory of the Republic of Srpska”.
Article 2 states that “the competent authorities of the RS will not cooperate with the competent authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina in implementing the decision of the High Representative, and Article 3 states that the law of the RS will be one day after its publication comes into force “ in the official gazette of the RS.
In addition to this decree, the President of the Republic of Srpska also signed a decree promulgating the Law Amending the Criminal Law of the RS, which forbids the degradation of the Republika Srpska.
“Anyone who publicly exposes the Republic of Srpska to contempt, contempt or gross contempt, its flag, its coat of arms, its emblem or its anthem, is punished with up to three years in prison,” says the law.
If this act is “committed in such a way that the RS is marked as aggressors or genocidal creatures or its people as aggressors or genocide, the perpetrator will be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years,” says the text of the new law .
It also stipulates that if this is committed by a person from an institution or an official, that person will be sentenced to two to ten years in prison.
Source: Tanjug
