Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina fails to adopt amendments to Election and Criminal Codes, war criminals remain on lists

At today's session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, proposals by SDP BiH representative Denis Bećirović to amend the Election and Criminal Codes of Bosnia and Herzegovina were rejected, while a proposal by SDS representative Aleksandra Pandurević to amend the Criminal Code was supported, reports the Patria agency.

Before the vote, Bećirović stated that he did not expect the adoption of this law in the House of Representatives due to the positions of deputies from Republika Srpska, but reminded that the proposed amendments are in line with practice in European countries where convicted war criminals are barred from running in elections. 

-It is a success that the amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which provide for a ban on candidacy for war criminals with final convictions in elections, were presented before the deputies – Bećirović said earlier.

16 deputies voted FOR, 17 against, and one abstained in the vote on the amendments to the Election Law, while in the vote on the amendments to the Criminal Code, 17 deputies voted FOR and 17 against.

In this way, the amendments to the Election and Criminal Codes of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which entail a ban on candidacy for those convicted of war crimes in elections and prison sentences for genocide deniers, did not pass before the state parliamentarians.

The ban on candidacy applies to all those convicted of war crimes before the Hague Tribunal, all relevant courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as courts in other countries. Public denial, approval, justification, or negation of genocide carries prison sentences of six months to three years.