SELAK: SERIOUS DOUBT OVER SELECTIVE APPLICATION OF IMPOSED ARTICLE 145a OF BiH CRIMINAL CODE

BANJA LUKA, JULY 22 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska Minister of Justice Goran Selak said that after requesting data from the BiH Prosecutor's Office and the Court of BiH on their proceedings under Article 145a of the BiH Criminal Code, the received response raised serious questions regarding the equal application of the law and trust in the judicial system.

Selak noted that the BiH Prosecutor's Office acted in accordance with the rules of inter-institutional cooperation and provided data enabling a serious analysis, while, as he pointed out, the Court of BiH provided only a minimum of information, omitting key data requested by the Republika Srpska Ministry of Justice, including the ethnic breakdown of confirmed and rejected indictments.

"Formal invocation of the secrecy of the investigation cannot be an excuse for withholding answers to questions of public interest. The truth cannot be hidden," Selak said.

According to him, an analysis of the provided data shows that all indictments against Serbs for the criminal offense under Article 145a of the BiH Criminal Code were confirmed by the Court of BiH, and that the accused have either already been convicted or are undergoing proceedings in which multi-year prison sentences have been handed down or are expected.

Selak claims that all indictments filed by the BiH Prosecutor's Office against Bosniaks for the same criminal offense were rejected by the Court of BiH, even though, as he states, there were more than twice as few of them compared to those against Serbs.

"Such data raises serious questions. Either the BiH Prosecutor's Office knows how to do its job when indicting Serbs, and does not when indicting Bosniaks, or, what emerges as a far more likely conclusion, the Court of BiH applies double standards to the same or comparable factual situations. If this is the case, it represents a serious blow to the rule of law, the constitutional order, and citizens' trust in the judiciary," Selak stated.

He asked where the international observers and all those who advocate for equality before the law are, and called on the Court of BiH to publicly explain the criteria based on which it treats the same or comparable actions differently depending on the ethnicity of the accused.

Selak also pointed to the fact that the minimum prison sentence prescribed for the criminal offense under Article 145a of the BiH Criminal Code is three years, assessing it unacceptable that such strict sentences are handed down for a so-called "verbal offense," while significantly more lenient sanctions are imposed for numerous war crimes committed against the Serb people.

He called on the leadership and judges of the Court of BiH to hold a session of the criminal division or a general session of judges as soon as possible in order to harmonize uniform judicial practice in these cases.

"Citizens have the right to know whether such indictments will be confirmed according to the same criteria in all cases and what penal policy will be applied, regardless of the ethnicity of the accused. Only equal application of the law can restore trust in the judiciary and ensure the rule of law," Selak stressed.