Law before MPs: Prison sentences for minimising and denying genocide

A proposal for a law banning the public denial, minimisation, justification or approval of the Holocaust, genocide crimes and crimes against humanity, submitted by MPs from the SDP BiH Club Denis Bećirović, Saša Magazinović and Mirsad Mešić, is on the agenda of the House of Representatives of the PSBiH session tomorrow, reports the Patria news agency.

The Constitutional and Legal Commission has established compliance with the Constitution and legal system of BiH, and the principles of the Proposal for a Law on the Prohibition of Public Denial, Minimisation, Justification or Approval of the Holocaust, Genocide Crimes and Crimes against Humanity have been supported.

However, at this moment it is difficult to expect this proposal to pass, given that MPs from the RS are not particularly inclined towards such a Law.

The proposed law, among other things, stipulates that "whoever intentionally publicly denies, minimises, justifies or approves the Holocaust, genocide crimes or crimes against humanity commits a criminal offence and shall be punished by imprisonment from eight days to three years or a fine from 1,000.00 KM to 10,000.00 KM".

It further specifies that "whoever commits the criminal offence from paragraph 1 of this article as a public official, or by abuse of position or authority, or if the act resulted in disorder, violence or other serious consequences for the lives of BiH citizens, shall be punished by imprisonment from six months to three years or a fine from 5,000 to 10,000 KM".

The proposal for a law on the prohibition of public denial, minimisation, justification or approval of the Holocaust, genocide crimes and crimes against humanity also bans the denial of the judgments of the Hague Tribunal.

- Whoever denies the judgments of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia commits a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment of up to three years or a fine from 1,000.00 KM to 10,000.00 KM – states the proposed law.

Incidentally, this law does not limit the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and all provisions are interpreted in accordance with the right to expression, freedom of thought, freedom to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.