The chairman of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, Denis Zvizdic, said on Friday that the Bill on banning the abuse of the term genocide had been submitted to this institution by representatives from the Republika Srpska (RS) entity, namely the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) caucus and their coalition partners.

Zvizdic noted that the Bill represents yet another form of genocide denial “because there is no ‘idea of genocide’ as stated in the Bill – there is only the crime of genocide. Turning the convicted genocide into the ‘idea of genocide’ is a denial of genocide,” Zvizdic said on Twitter, where he posted a photo of the bill.

U Parlament BiH je stigao “Zakon o zabr. zloupot. pojma genocida”. Smatram da je riječ o novom obliku neg.genocida, jer ne postoji "ideja o genocidu” kako to stoji u Zakonu - postoji samo zločin genocida. Pretvaranje presuđenog genocida u "ideju o genocidu”je negiranje genocida. pic.twitter.com/ZVlDOTR36b

— Dr Denis Zvizdić (@DrZvizdic) February 4, 2022

The text of the Bill on Prohibition of Abuse of the Term of Genocide states, among other things, that it “regulates the prohibition of abuse of the term of genocide in a way that it is prescribed as a new criminal offence, as well as a criminal sanction for the said offence.”

It is further clarified what this abuse of the term genocide should mean, so it reads:

“Whoever speaks or writes or otherwise makes publicly available texts, images or any other presentation of genocide ideas, belittling or exposing Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republika Srpska (RS), the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and the Brcko District of BiH, as well as a group of individuals or members a group determined on the basis of race, colour, religion, origin, national or ethnic origin, and in a manner that could incite violence or hatred directed against BiH, RS, FBiH, Brcko District, as well as such groups of individuals and a member of that group shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.”

The second paragraph of Article 3 refers to the punishment of appointed and elected officials who commit the said act.

“The perpetrator of the criminal offence referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, who is appointed or elected official or responsible individual or an employee of the institutions of BiH, RS, FBiH and Brcko District, or anybody or organization financed through the public budget shall be punished by imprisonment of at least three years.”

Three days ago, the RS National Assembly (RSNA) passed a resolution asking the representative of the RS in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina to propose this law, which was done this Friday.