A prison sentence for denial of the genocide in Srebrenica and all final verdicts for war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be introduced eight days upon the publication in the Official Gazette of the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH, which was adopted by the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament at session in Sarajevo.
“The essence of the amendment relate to Chapter XV of the Criminal Code / Acts against the constitutional order / where in Article 163 along the existing paragraph: Whoever publicly incites and inflames national, racial or religious hatred, discord or intolerance among the constituent peoples and others living in the Federation of BiH, shall be punished by imprisonment of one to five years, a new paragraph is added: Who commits the said criminal offense under the preceding paragraph, with a make public denial or justification of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes established by a final decision of the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or domestic courts, shall be punished by imprisonment of three months to three years – explained to FENA the proponent of the law Jasmin Duvnjak, the vice president of SDA caucus in the FBiH parliament.
He stressed that the denial of the adjudicated genocide in Srebrenica and all final adjudicated war crimes verdicts throughout the country, is not a mere expression of opinion, but it is, as he says, “a new crime, especially to the innocent victims and their families.”
“It is not possible to build trust in the post-Yugoslav societies, nor could these societies move on into the future, without dealing with the past. This is the only way to leave the past behind us and not to be a burden to us,” said Duvnjak.
(Source: Fena)
