The third-instance panel of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) confirmed the verdict by which Dusan Sladojevic, Slavko Aleksic and Risto Lecic were each sentenced to five months in prison for inciting national, racial and religious hatred, discord and intolerance in the area of Visegrad and its surroundings in March 2019.
“The Court of BiH issued a verdict in the case of Dusan Sladojevic et al, the appeals of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiHand the Defense were rejected, and the second-instance decision was confirmed. The decision was sent to the parties and the defendants’ defense attorneys,” the State Court stated.
In June, the Appellate Council issued a second-instance verdict which found that Sladojevic, Aleksic, and Lecic committed the criminal offense of “inciting national, racial and religious hatred, discord and intolerance” and all that with their activities of glorifying the Chetnik movement and Draza Mihailovic at a gathering of “Ravnogorski Movement members“ (”Ravnogorci”) in Visegrad, and with songs expressing threats and violence.
This verdict was pronounced after the first-instance verdict from December last year, in which the three defendants were acquitted, was annulled. According to the Appellate Council, the accused acted with intent and were aware that they could inflame national hatred and threaten the coexistence of constituent nations and Others in BiH.
“The fact that there was no incident does not mean that the residents of Visegrad were not disturbed,” said judge Azra Miletic during the pronouncement of the second-instance verdict.
The fact that the “Ravnogorski Movement” was registered in court, as Miletic pointed out at the time, does not exculpate the defendants from illegal actions. She also referred to the use of Chetnik symbols, as well as the glorification of the Chetnik movement and Draza Mihailovic, who were condemned and recognized as a movement that collaborated with fascist forces.
“It is true that the right to freedom of expression is guaranteed, but it is not an absolute right,” noted Miletic, pointing to the position of the European Court of Human Rights on the need to sanction hate speech.
This verdict is final and cannot be appealed, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
