Republika Srpska: Fine for swearing and beating 600, and for BH flag 3 – 15 years of prison

What has been happening on the territory of RS is a complete violation of human rights, violation of BH Constitution and the laws on which security and safety of citizens are based upon. This entity has seen numerous violation of returnees' rights, raids of homes under the ban of alleged terrorism threat.

Which resources does the state have to stop this violation of human rights and disrespectful behavior in one part of BiH is the question.

It has been just announced that Sejfudin Tokic may end up in prison for any time between 3 and 15 years. Tokic was arrested and taken for hearing in May last year for flying legitimate state flag of BiH in Banja Luka. 

Journalists attacked before cameras

Also attacked at the time was journalists Rasid Halilovic who was with Tokic.

The court trial for the attack on journalist did take place. Halilovic had to listen in front of judges new threats from the person who had previously physically attacked him. The judge did not react to the new threats by the offender. The journalist reacted requesting the protection from the public, Association of Journalists, OSCE and OHR.

At the same time in Visegrad, N1 journalist Adisa Ibrahimovic and cameraman Alen Skorupan were brutally attacked – swearing, threats and beating on the head with microphone. That was a heavier criminal act and the offender was fined with only 600 KM outside of court trial.     

How is it possible that the journalist who was attacked in Banja Luka, despite of the hard evidence on live video record, has to travel a few hundreds of kilometers for a court trial, while the other brutal attack on freedom of speech is immediately settled with 600 KM, which Ravnogorski Chetnik Movement had already cashed in from Visegrad municipal budget? Isn't that a nice try to calm the public?

Whose legal system is this?

Tokic may end up in prison for 3 – 15 years for alleged spreading of hatred and animosity. Obviously, the RS has lost the touch with reality. Tokic was carrying the legitimate flag of BiH that had been put up in front of the United Nations in New York in 1992.

Chetniks in Visegrad were carrying the flags of the neighboring country, wearing uniforms with insignia of a fascist movement.

Entity without rights and justice

Mothers of Srebrenica are also being prosecuted. Recently, Hatidza Mehmedovic ended up in court for alleged illegitimate assembling. Only after reaction to this public disgrace, the municipal court in Srebrenica has discontinued the process.

Fata Orlovic has been fighting legal windmills of RS for 10 years now over an illegally built church in her courtyard.

Salih Alijagic, an entrepreneur from Trebinje, who was brutally robbed during the war, recently survived another shock when his case was moved to another court of the same level. If there was a problem with the mandate, that should have been resolved before the court trial and not in the middle. One has heard about change of judges in the middle of a court trial, but never so for change of courts in the middle of the trial except in RS.

The story of entity legislation in RS is becoming more complicated. There are many examples of double standards. There does not seem to be any protection of human rights for those who do not belong to the entity majority nation.

That also applies to police investigations. If offenders are Serbs, the offence is hardly noticed. The recent attack on an elderly returnee to Rosulje near Lukavac, Uros Stojanovic, provoked a massive reaction by media in RS. When it was discovered that the offenders were Serbs, there was no further mention of the case in media. The silence remained even when the old man died in the evening of 14 March.

The International community does not react to the unacceptable behavior of the RS legal system, not even those who usually follow court trials in the name of justice and law. Starting with the recent case of attack on journalists. Can we talk about human rights and freedoms at all? Is 600 KM the price of mocking the rule of law and humiliation of freedom of speech?