The State Department released a report on human rights in the world for last year, which included Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The report was presented yesterday by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
BiH has achieved extremely poorly when it comes to respect for human rights, and the report also mentions the Law on Defamation in BiH.
A special part of the report is about great pressures on the media, journalists, and the report states that 212,000 KM were seized from "Avaz-roto press".
- While the country has decriminalized defamation, many complaints continued to be brought before courts against journalists, often resulting in extremely high fines. Noteworthy court decisions against journalists included temporary bans on the posting or publication of certain information as well as extremely high and disproportionate compensatory payments.
In June and July, the Municipal Court of Sarajevo issued two verdicts ordering payment of unusually high fines and penalties in defamation cases against two media outlets. Following a court order, more than 212,000 convertible marks (KM) ($127,000) were seized from the bank account of the publishing house Avaz-roto Press, based on a 2009 defamation case and a related 2016-2019 case about publishing the court ruling.
Avaz-roto Press was found guilty and had previously already paid KM 5,000 ($3,000) in damages and covered additional accompanying court costs. In July the online media outlet Zurnal was ordered to pay more than KM 170,000 ($102,000) based on a first-instance court ruling in a defamation case. The BH Journalists association expressed concern that such excessive fines and penalties could seriously jeopardize the work and business of media outlets, noting the need to find a balance between the economic power of the media, the public interest, and the right to compensation. The Steering Board of the BiH Press and Online Media Council expressed concern, noting that such high fines and penalties are at odds with projecting journalistic integrity and endanger the work of the media - it is stated in the report of State department.
Let us remind you, Judge Mirsada Karahmetović, after the already paid verdict from 2016 for defamation to the Prosecutor of the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Tuzla Jasminka Djedović (in the amount of 5,001 KM), made a decision on June 22nd last year, and on June 25th from the account "Avaz-roto press" removed an incredible 207,900 KM of non-existent court penalties, increased by 4,256 KM of enforcement costs, which totals more than 212,000 KM.
