The president of the Republika Srpska entity, Milorad Dodik, signed the Decree on the Promulgation of the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of the RS today.
These are changes that criminalize defamation, which caused stormy reactions from the media as well as the international community.
“I am promulgating the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republika Srpska, which was adopted by the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska at the Fourth Regular Session held on July 20, 2023,” reads the Decree signed by Dodik.
The Council of the People of Republika Srpska informed the National Assembly by act, number: 03/2.01-020-344/23 of July 28, 2023, that the said law falls under the question of violating the vital national interest of the Bosniak people.
The joint commission of the NSRS and the People’s Council of the RS, at the session held on August 2, 2023, in accordance with Amendment LXXVII, did not agree on the said law, and it was submitted to the Council for the Protection of Vital Interests of the Constitutional Court of the RS.
The Council for the Protection of Vital Interests of the Constitutional Court of the RS issued a decision, number: UV-3/23 of August 8, 2023, which determined that the request of the Club of Delegates of the Bosniak People in the Council of the People of the RS to determine the violation of the vital national interest of the Bosniak people in to the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of the RS, which fulfilled the formal and legal requirements for the adoption of the Decree.
The aforementioned decision was published in the Official Gazette of the RS.
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