RS Vice President files hate speech charges against Bosnia Finance Minister Amidzic

The press conference was called after the Steering Board of the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) failed to reach an agreement on opening a new border crossing. Instead of explaining the operational deadlock, the state minister delivered a series of controversial statements broadcast live across multiple television and online media outlets.

Specifically, Amidzic targeted Zijad Krnjic, an expert member of the ITA Steering Board, stating that Krnjic "is a Muslim who punishes the Serb, Bosniak, and Croat people, and perceives Serbs as Jews in World War II." Amidzic added that Krnjic would likely put yellow stars on their shoulders to mark them as second-class citizens.

Durakovic’s complaint characterizes this statement as an instrumentalization of the Holocaust to incite ethnic and religious intolerance under Article 359, Paragraph 2 of the RS Criminal Code, which prescribes harsher sanctions for public officials using the media.

Furthermore, Amidzic stated that "someone needs to die for Krnjic to relent," which the complaint argues includes physical gestures that eliminate the possibility of interpreting it as mere rhetoric, fulfilling elements of endangering security under Article 153. Amidzic also claimed during the conference that Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot exist, lacks a future, and should be moved to Africa.

The background to the political clash involves Krnjic refusing to approve regulations for opening the Gradiska border crossing until a debt owed by RS to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity, exceeding 150 million Bosnian marks (approx. €76,690,000), is resolved. While RS officials accuse Bosniak representatives of blockades, the FBiH side claims that discussions regarding revenue alignment have been avoided for months. FBiH Finance Minister Toni Kraljevic confirmed that the Court of BiH will rule on the FBiH's revenue lawsuit against RS this July.