Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English
Two leading political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZBiH), which pretend to represent the interests of the Serb and Croat peoples in BiH in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina proposed conclusions and voted on the annulment of the BiH Law[2] on prohibition of denial of Holocaust and genocide. The decision is to be agreed at the level of the Collegium of the House of Peoples and will probably not be adopted. This means that the proposal of conclusions will be returned to the House of Peoples for a vote. A conclusion is adopted, if it is supported by more than half the delegates and if 2/3 of delegates from one entity do not vote against it. The decision already has the support of delegates from Republika Srpska, as all five delegates from the RS have voted in favor of the conclusions. However, when it comes to the Federation of BiH, the situation is different. If delegate Bariša Čolak attends the next session, the HDZBiH will have four delegates who will vote in favor of the conclusions, which is more than 1/3 (out of ten) delegates from the Federation of BiH, which implies that the Law will definitely be adopted. The Law[3] expressly outlaws denial of two international legal acquis. Specifically, it outlaws negation of judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and bans denial of Nurnberg[4] judgments against the Nazis. Although in the offered parliamentary conclusions for annulment, the SNSD and HDZ delegates attempted to “elaborate” the reasons for annulment, not at one single point did they refer to the annulment of the part of the Law that reads: “Whoever publicly condones, denies, grossly trivializes or tries to justify a crime of genocide, crimes against humanity or a war crime established by a final adjudication pursuant to the Charter of the International Military Tribunal appended to the London Agreement of 8 August 1945 or by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or the International Criminal Court or a court in Bosnia and Herzegovina, directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, color, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin, when the conduct is carried out in a manner likely to incite to violence or hatred against such a group or a member of such a group, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.” Namely, this is related to a premeditated and preconcerted action of European right-wing conservative and pro-fascist parties gathered around the so-called manifest of the “gathering of European Patriots”, who act in BiH through Milorad Dodik, SNSD President and Dragan Čović, HDZBiH President. The request and the vote in a national parliament for annulment of the law related to denial of judgments related to the Holocaust is the most brutal attack on the truth about the Holocaust in the XXI century.
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