Milorad Dodik, the President of Bosnia's Republika Srpska entity, signed a decree on Friday on the promulgation of amendments to the Criminal Code, making the criminalisation of defamation legislation in that entity official.

The law amendments were adopted by the RS entity parliament on July 20 this year.

The new legislation reintroduced the criminalisation of defamation, despite objection of journalists and international community who warned that these law changes are an attack on the freedom of expression and a step towards censorship in that part of Bosnia and Herzegovina

According to the law, making malicious or untrue statements about a person will be called defamation, and the person breaching the law will be fined with an amount of 1,000 to 3,000 euros. In the final draft of the law, fines for defamation were reduced compared to the draft, when they were set at up to 60,000 euros.

Larger fines are prescribed in situations where defamation is presented in the media, including social networks or at a public meeting.

OHR: Recriminalization of defamation is an attack on the rights of RS citizens

On August 8, the Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska rejected the veto of the Bosniak Caucus in the Council of Peoples to the law amendments.

After that procedure was finalised, it took only the signature of the President of the RS, Milorad Dodik, for these changes to come into force.

BH Journalists group urges RS entity MPs to reject government’s defamation law

In July 2001, the National Assembly of the RS transferred defamation from the criminal to the civil sphere and passed its own Law on Protection against Defamation.

With the decision of Paddy Ashdown, the former high representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the crime against reputation and honour was removed from the Criminal Code of the Federation entity (FBiH) in November 2002.

Using the Bonn powers, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) simultaneously imposed the Law on Protection against Defamation in the FBiH.

In this way, more than 20 years ago, Bosnia and Herzegovina became the first country in the Western Balkans to decriminalize defamation.