The Steering Committee of the BH Journalists Association strongly condemned the decision of the Government of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity to introduce defamation into the Criminal Code, warning that it represents an attempt to silence media and prevent investigative journalism.
The association demanded an immediate reaction from representatives of the international community in the country in order to prevent the criminalization of defamation.
RELATED NEWS
The RS Government adopted on Thursday the Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of RS, introducing new criminal offences against honour and reputation, i.e. the criminal offence of insult and defamation. Entity Minister of Justice Milos Bukejlovic announced that fines for the aforementioned crimes will range from 5,000 to 50,000 BAM.
“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 define 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 of journalists and the media, especially those who write critically about the moves of the government, the suppression of media freedom and the introduction of (self)censorship,” The BH Journalists Association said.
The association also stressed that there are some politicians in BiH’s other semi-autonomous entity, the Federation (FBiH), who also support the criminalization of defamation, and that such laws could be adopted in that entity as well.
“The journalistic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including around 700 members of 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 (Office of the High Representative), the Delegation of the EU, the Council of Europe and the OSCE in BiH, which must act concretely to prevent the criminalization of defamation! Their previous silence and opportune behaviour gave Milorad Dodik and his advisers the wind to carry out their plans to criminalize defamation and shut down independent media in our country,” the associations said.
“Once again, we remind that in its report for 2022, the European Commission requested from BH 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 also invite politicians from both BH entities to raise their voice and show that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country where freedom of speech and freedom of the media are unquestionable as an integral part of the European integration process,” it said.
Kakvo je tvoje mišljenje o ovome?
Budi prvi koji će ostaviti komentar!