Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) announced that with today’s adoption of amendments to the Criminal Code, the authorities in Republika Srpska entered the phase of open repression of citizens and ranked among the worst authoritarian regimes in this part of the world.
Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina warns that all citizens will suffer the consequences of returning defamation to the criminal justice system, because the government will have the ability to prosecute all people who express any criticism on social networks or in another public place through eligible prosecutors.
In the press release of TI BiH, it is stated that today’s decisions of the National Assembly of the RS (NSRS) have created the basis for opening numerous criminal proceedings against journalists, media, activists and opposition politicians, as well as against all others who indicate any social problem in a public place.
It is added that, regardless of the truth of the allegations they make, everyone can face the measures that come with criminal proceedings, “which we have had the opportunity to watch in recent years through numerous judicial farces and political calculations through the prosecutors’ offices”.
TI BIH reminds that this law was announced after numerous controversies with the theft of votes that marked the October elections as a form of “correcting the negative atmosphere in the public” and that from the first day the government’s intention to stifle any criticism with this law was clear.
“Despite reasoned warnings from journalists, the media, civil society and the most relevant international addresses, including the UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the EU, the ruling regime, in a farcical procedure, in violation of basic democratic principles, adopted legal solutions that will have disastrous consequences for freedom of speech throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
If we add to that the fact that during the previous period the regime created an atmosphere of lynching and orchestrated a series of attacks, including physical attacks on journalists and civil society activists that the competent law enforcement agencies did not fully shed light on, it is clear that today’s decisions of the NSRS are a prelude to open repression and persecution of dissidents by the regime’s institutions,” TI BiH points out.
That is why TI BiH calls on international partners to show solidarity with the citizens of the RS and BiH by ensuring assistance and legal protection for all those who will suffer the consequences of such legal solutions.
TI BiH, through the Center for the provision of free legal aid, will provide citizens with free advisory legal aid – it is stated in the press release.
