Dodik signs decree, criminalisation of defamation in RS enters into force

(Patria) - President of the entity RS Milorad Dodik has signed the Decree on the promulgation of the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of the RS.

These are amendments that criminalise defamation, which has sparked strong reactions from the media and the international community.

“I proclaim the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republika Srpska, which was adopted by the National Assembly of the RS at its fourth regular session held on 20 July 2023,” reads the Decree signed by Dodik.

The Council of Peoples of the Republika Srpska, by act number: 03/2.01-020-344/23 of 28 July 2023, informed the National Assembly that the said law pertains to a matter of violation of the vital national interest of the Bosniak people.

The Joint Commission of the RSNA and the Council of Peoples of the RS, at its session held on 2 August 2023, in accordance with Amendment LXXVII, did not harmonise 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 8 August 2023, establishing that the request of the Club of Delegates of the Bosniak people in the Council of Peoples of the RS for determining a violation of the vital national interest of the Bosniak people in the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of the RS was not acceptable, thereby fulfilling the formal legal conditions for issuing the Decree.

The said decision was published in the Official Gazette of the RS.