SDA: Courts should do their job according to the law, not tolerate lies and slander

(Patria) -  SDA considers the ruling of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo to reject the lawsuit filed by the family members of the late Alija Izetbegović against Milorad Dodik due to slander as a shameful mockery of the law. The Court's reasoning that Alija Izetbegović is a historical figure, and that the lies and slander deliberately uttered about him should be „judged by history“ and not by the courts whose job it is, we consider an unacceptable mockery of justice and common sense, the Party of Democratic Action announced today. 

"It is a pure lie, uttered by Dodik, that Alija Izetbegović was a member of Nazi forces in World War II and that he attended the torture of Serbian prisoners in a camp during the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Instead of acting according to the Law on Protection against Defamation, taking into account unequivocal evidence that Izetbegović was a member of partisan forces and appropriately punishing the lie that he attended the torture of prisoners, the Court in Sarajevo decided that everything should be „left to the judgment of history“!?  

We do not wish to speculate whether this is a matter of a lack of professional judicial courage, incompetence, or succumbing to inappropriate political influences to which the Bosnian judiciary is generally exposed, but it is clear that the Court in Sarajevo has thereby sent a message that in Bosnia and Herzegovina everything is allowed to everyone, including the uttering of obvious lies.

We expect that in the appellate proceedings this case will be resolved in accordance with the law, and not according to anyone's free interpretation and political calculation", the SDA announced.