HDZ and SNSD prefer thugs who beat returnees, blocked amendments to the BiH Criminal Code that would criminalize attacks

(Patria) - Amendments to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would treat attacks on returnees as a criminal offense, will not come into effect.

The reason is that the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina gave a negative opinion on the proposed amendments to the Criminal Code for the second time at its session today. This suspends the legislative procedure, and the House of Representatives will not vote on this law today, writes Faktor.

Members of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee from SNSD and HDZ were against treating attacks on returnees as a criminal offense, thus there was no required majority for support.

Such amendments to the BiH Criminal Code were proposed by MP Nihad Omerović of NiP on behalf of the working group composed of representatives from all party caucuses in the House of Representatives.

They were proposed in mid-June this year, but the procedure was "dragged out" thanks to SNSD and HDZ, as well as PDP and SDS, who did not accept that the amendments to the Criminal Code be considered under an urgent, and then not even an abbreviated procedure. The law did not reach the House of Peoples, but was stopped in the House of Representatives by today's vote in the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

The working group was formed based on a conclusion from the session of the House of Representatives held on September 21, 2023, and its task was to propose measures for the protection and security of returnees.

At the same time, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee today accepted amendments to the BiH Criminal Code proposed by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Denis Zvizdić (NiP). Only members of the committee from SNSD were against it. This concerns the proposal that it is no longer mandatory for a prison sentence of up to one year to be commuted to a fine at the request of the convicted person.

Members of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee are Marinko Čavara (HDZ), Darijana Filipović (HDZ), Obren Petrović (SNSD), Nebojša Radmanović (SNSD), and Milan Petković (Ujedinjena Srpska, which is an SNSD partner), as well as Albin Muslić (SDP), Šerif Špago (SDA), Amor Mašović (SDA), and Predrag Kojović (Naša stranka).