Media in RS focused on criminalizing defamation: Withdraw the law!

(Patria) - The draft amendments to the Criminal Code of Republika Srpska, which introduce the criminalization of public speech, have been adopted. The authorities in RS have thus silenced dissenters, so media outlets such as RTV BN and the Capital portal have dedicated their entire pages to this very topic with identical images and one headline - Withdraw the law!

We remind you that the deputies of Milorad Dodik's SNSD, Petar Đokić's Socialist Party, Nenad Stevandić's United Srpska, Nenad Nešić's DNS, Darko Banjac's NPS, and Goran Selak's SPS voted FOR.

The goal of this legal solution is to stifle free speech and label dissenters.

The conclusion of the Legislative Committee on a 60-day public debate was also adopted by a majority of votes, while the SDS's proposed conclusion was rejected.

The SDS requested that defamation and insult be excluded from the Criminal Code and returned to civil litigation, as well as that amendments to the Law on Protection against Defamation be drafted.

The opposition, journalistic associations, as well as representatives of numerous international organizations and embassies continue to demand the withdrawal of the controversial law on the criminalization of defamation...

A larger group of journalists and editors arrived at the National Assembly during the vote.