PROSECUTORS FROM BAVARIA VISIT THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OF BIH

A team of experts for fight against extremism, terrorism and hate speech, headed by the Bavarian Chief Prosecutor, is visiting the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This two-day professional visit was initiated in order to provide an opportunity to prosecutors, legal officers and investigators from the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH working on such cases to exchange experiences and discuss legal solutions, judicial practice and prosecutorial work in the prosecution of criminal offences provided for by German legislation with their colleagues from Germany, as well as on the applicability of these solutions in the prosecution of criminal offences of Provoking national, racial and religious hatred, discord and intolerance in violation of Article 145a of the Criminal Code of CC BiH, and especially paragraph 3 thereof, which refers to the criminal offences of approving, denying, grossly trivialising or attempting to justify the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes established by final judgments, which were introduced into the criminal legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by a Decision of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina in late July 2021.

The colleagues from Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina will discuss the experiences in proving, documenting and prosecuting the perpetrators of these criminal acts, as well as the possibilities of establishing the judicial practice in Bosnia and Herzegovina that will be the basis for proving, prosecuting and punishing these criminal offences.

Furthermore, there will be a discussion on how individual legal solutions can be improved in practice, so that prosecutor’s offices, together with partner police and security agencies, can work efficiently on gathering evidence and making prosecutorial decisions in these cases.

This visit will give an opportunity to the representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office BiH to discuss with representatives from the judicial system of the Federal Republic of Germany the application of international standards in this area.