Three Years Since Inzko's Criminal Code Amendments and Genocide Denial Ban, Nothing Has Changed - BiH Prosecutor's Office Bears Responsibility!

(Patria) - Almost three years since the imposition of amendments to the BiH Criminal Code concerning the ban on genocide denial, no case has been opened at the Prosecutor's Office.

The recent presence of the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Dragan Čović, at the promotion of a book by convicted war criminal Valentin Ćorić, titled "In vino libertas – autobiographical notes from The Hague," in Mostar, has brought the entire issue surrounding the amendments to the BiH Criminal Code (CC BiH) back into focus. These amendments were imposed by the then High Representative, Valentin Inzko, just before his departure from BiH in 2021.

"Whoever publicly approves, denies, grossly diminishes, or attempts to justify the crime of genocide, a crime against humanity, or a war crime established by a final court ruling... shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years," stated, among other things, the amendments to the Criminal Code.

No Cases, No Verdicts

Three years have passed, exactly one hundred reports have been filed with the BiH Prosecutor's Office on this basis, but to date, there are no opened cases, let alone verdicts.

"Since 2021, approximately 100 cases related to the criminal offense under Article 145a of the CC BiH, inciting national, racial, and religious hatred, discord, and intolerance, have been registered at the BiH Prosecutor's Office. In some cases, orders to not conduct an investigation have been issued, and some cases are in the investigation or reporting phase. Almost no cases have been opened based on a received report of a committed criminal offense, submitted by a law enforcement agency, with evidence, witness testimonies, and everything necessary," DW was told by the BiH Prosecutor's Office, which states that citizens have most often filed reports against other individuals, primarily due to posts and comments on social media, including reports against politicians.

"A particular problem in the work of prosecutors is the fact that reports are not received from the competent law enforcement agencies, which possess the necessary expertise," the Prosecutor's Office stated, justifying that they do not intend to create the impression that a report cannot be processed simply because it was filed by citizens or other organizations.

"We only emphasize the fact that police and security agencies have more professional knowledge on the mentioned topic," the state Prosecutor's Office told DW, whose chief, Milanko Kajganić, stated over a year ago that the law is inapplicable.

Caring for One's Own

Valentin Ćorić, former head of the Military Police Administration of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and Minister of Internal Affairs of the then "Herceg-Bosna," whose book promotion was attended by Dragan Čović, was sentenced by the Hague Tribunal to 16 years in prison for war crimes against Bosniaks. He was released on early parole in 2019 after serving two-thirds of his sentence. Čović's attendance was condemned by the US Embassy in BiH, stating that there is "no place in a European BiH for public support and glorification of convicted war criminals" and that such a move is shameful. Parties based in the Federation of BiH, as well as associations of war victims, also condemned Čović's presence at the promotion.

"One of the key things in the strategy of the Croatian National Assembly is preserving the credibility of the Homeland War. Preserving the honor of the Homeland War and the honor of all our defenders," Čović said during an appearance on the Bljesak.info podcast, stating that he understands anyone who was hurt in the war and is ready to apologize to any victim.

"Valentin did that at the book promotion. I was in The Hague from 1999 to 2020, five or six times. It is my obligation, if you are a representative of the Croatian people, a leader of the Croatian people's politics, you must care about these people," Čović said.

Čović and Ćorić are just the tip of the iceberg in BiH. Support for war criminals with final verdicts is not an exception, and such a narrative has existed for years within all national communities.

Morally Right, Politically Wrong

Regarding the law banning genocide denial and its application, Bodo Weber, a democratization policy advisor from Berlin, says he was against its imposition from the beginning and that those who supported it, whether from Bosnia and Herzegovina or from abroad, erred for moral reasons.

"Because what was morally right was politically completely wrong. The law targeted the symptom, not the cause. The surge in genocide denial by the highest representatives of ethno-nationalist elites in the last two decades in BiH is merely a symptom, a tool. The cause is the West's attempt over the last two decades to shy away from BiH by handing over the Dayton system to domestic elites who maintain it as a dysfunctional system where inter-ethnic fear-mongering serves to maintain power, a patronage system," says Weber, stating that the only sustainable way to resolve the phenomenon of genocide denial is to replace the Dayton system with a new, democratic one.

"Even if it made sense, the imposed law would still be meaningless due to the fundamental politicization of the judiciary in BiH under the patronage of the ruling elites, and the passive and active support from the West, especially from European Union institutions in the last decade and a half," says Weber, explaining that under such conditions, it was clear that the law would not be applied, especially not against leading politicians.

The current High Representative in BiH, Christian Schmidt, however, believes that the implementation of Inzko's law is very important, but he agrees with the assessment that the problem is not with the law itself, but with the institutions responsible for its implementation.

"Therefore, the international community will keep an eye on it," Schmidt stated vaguely.

Fear of the Truth

The president of the Forum of Citizens of Tuzla and former judge, Vehid Šehić, believes that the justification for enacting Inzko's law and its application should not be questioned. Every law is applicable, and in its application, one looks for the good and bad aspects of the law, including this one, says Šehić.

"Why it is not being applied is a question for the BiH Prosecutor's Office. And if something needs to be changed, it is expected that they will say what so that the legislator can react. However, the problem here is that we as a society cannot face the facts of the past, especially those that can be established beyond a reasonable doubt as true. Because many fear the truth," says Šehić.

The Prosecutor's Office is not losing hope, convinced that, as they stated, it is noticeable that after the introduction of the law amendments and the beginning of the BiH Prosecutor's Office's work on these cases, "hate speech and denial of crimes in the media and online spaces have significantly decreased."

"On the other hand, in the previous period, the BiH Prosecutor's Office filed two indictments for the criminal offense of inciting national, racial, and religious hatred, discord, and intolerance under Article 145a, and the BiH Court rejected the confirmation of the indictment in one case. In the case of Sladojević and others (members of the Ravna Gora Movement), the first conviction was handed down, which became final at the end of last year, and we hope it will be useful for establishing future court practice in this area," the BiH Prosecutor's Office told DW.