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TRT World (18 October 2021)

Hamza Karcic

Bosnian Serb leadership are establishing new facts on the ground that could pave the way for secession in the future.

On July 30, Bosnian Serb politicians announced their intent to block the functioning of state-level institutions soon after the outgoing High Representative in Bosnia Valentin Inzko issued a ban on genocide denial — punishing whomever “publicly condones, denies, grossly trivializes or tries to justify a crime of genocide, crimes against humanity or a war crime” with imprisonment.

The Dayton Peace Accords of 1995 gave state-level veto powers to representatives of Republika Srpska, a Serb-majority entity in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina, which they have frequently used to block legislation over the past two-and-a-half decades. Bosnia’s parliament has been unable to convene since the July decision. Bosnia’s state institutions are paralysed. Last week, Bosnian Serb leaders upped the ante. President of Republika Srpska, Zeljka Cvijanovic, proclaimed the entry into force two laws that reject Inzko’s genocide denial ban and prohibit the “belittling or demonisation” of Republika Srpska.

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