Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide: We will never give up on truth and justice

The Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide and the Movement of Mothers of the Enclaves Srebrenica and Žepa, along with 35 other Associations and NGOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, reacted due to the interruption of the session of the Constitutional-Legal Committee of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, reports Patria agency.

The 51st session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, scheduled for September 7, 2017, will most likely be prevented by sabotage actions of parliamentarians from the RS.

Namely, on September 5, 2017, Aleksandra Pandurević and Momčilo Novaković left the session of the Constitutional-Legal Committee of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH without explanation after agenda items 6, the proposal for a law amending the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and item 7, the proposal for amendments to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, proposed by MP Denis Bećirović, were to be considered.

Today, representatives of the HDZ joined them.

On both days, the assembly and the Committee's work were interrupted at the moment when the Committee members were supposed to consider the amendment to the Election Law which provides for the prohibition of convicted war criminals from running in elections, and the amendment to the Criminal Code which provides for legal prevention and punishment of public approval, denial, and severe trivialization of genocide, the Holocaust, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against the civilian population as established by international and domestic courts.

The Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide and the Movement of Mothers of the Enclaves Srebrenica and Žepa, along with 35 other Associations and NGOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, have expressed support for MP Denis Bećirović for the amendments to the Criminal Code of BiH.

- We are outraged that every opportunity is being exploited to prevent the consideration of laws that are of exceptional importance for BiH and are in line with the principles of international law and the charter of the European Commission. It is shameful that those who are supposed to represent the well-being of the people are exploiting their political positions to promote convicted war criminals and to continue to allow them to be part of the socio-political life of BiH, while survivors continue to fight for their basic rights.

We will never give up on truth and justice, which includes the legal fight to prevent convicted war criminals from enjoying political positions and to unpunishedly deny genocide and war crimes - the reaction states.