Inzko's Law Finally Enters Into Force

(Patria) - The law of former High Representative Valentin Inzko has finally entered into force, says the president of the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide, Murat Tahirović, in a statement to Patria.

Tahirović was referring to amendments to the Criminal Code of BiH, which Inzko imposed in July 2021 using his Bonn powers, prohibiting and punishing the denial of genocide and other war crimes, and the glorification of war criminals.

Tahirović's comment followed the first-instance verdict by the Court of BiH sentencing the president of the pro-Russian oriented Association "Istočna alternativa" (Eastern Alternative), Vojin Pavlović, to 2.5 years in prison for gross denial and glorification of the genocide in Srebrenica and glorification of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić.

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Vojin Pavlović sentenced to two and a half years in prison for justifying genocide and glorifying Ratko Mladić

(Patria) - The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has sentenced Vojin Pavlović to a unified sentence of two and a half years in prison for inciting national, racial, and religious hatred, discord, and intolerance. Pavlović was convicted because on March 10th

Judge Goran Radević stated in the first-instance verdict that this is a turning point in judicial practice in Bosnia and Herzegovina and called on prosecutors to process such cases.

- The court is sending a clear message that verdicts for genocide and war crimes are judicially established facts, not only before the Hague tribunal but also in BiH courts - said Judge Radević.

He added that Pavlović's actions were not "an expression of political opinion in the function of freedom of speech, but a gross denial of genocide".

Pavlović was convicted because on March 10, 2023, he placed a banner with the image of the former commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, Ratko Mladić, sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes and genocide in BiH, at an intersection above the traffic lights in Bratunac. The banner read "Happy birthday, may you live and be healthy".

He was also found guilty of approving and attempting to justify the genocide in Srebrenica by organizing a gathering in Bratunac on July 11, 2023, for which he created posters that read "July 11 - Day of the Liberation of Srebrenica. Thank you to the Army of Republika Srpska". He posted these posters in the area of the Bratunac municipality, a few kilometers from Srebrenica.

This is also the first such verdict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the defense and the BiH Prosecutor's Office can appeal it.

Tahirović says that the fight to pass such a law that would prevent, or rather hinder, the denial of genocide and other war crimes lasted for more than a decade.

- In a way, that struggle marked a part of my life, as well as the lives of a number of Srebrenica mothers, primarily Munira Subašić and others, to finally get that law.

And then another struggle ensued when Inzko imposed that law in 2021 - for it to see the light of day.

It took quite a long time - convincing the prosecution, organizing certain conferences, judicial analyses of verdicts...

Now we finally have a verdict, albeit a first-instance one, but it somehow directs the BiH judiciary in the direction it could go.

The prosecution now truly has an opportunity in the coming period to prosecute all those who deny genocide, and especially those who hold high political office and deeply insult, primarily returnees, but in their entirety, all victims in BiH.

We have finally reached the point where we have a court verdict. And I hope that in the future this will be nipped in the bud, that such drastic cases, as the president of the Republika Srpska entity has had the opportunity to do so far, will no longer happen - Tahirović concluded in his conversation with Patria.

(D.K.)