JUDICIARY SHOULD ADDRESS KONAKOVIĆ'S INCITEMENT OF NATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE

STUTTGART, AUGUST 7 /SRNA/ – The General Consul of BiH in Stuttgart Vera Sajić has called on the institutions and legal bodies in BiH to address the statement made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers, Elmedin Konaković, that he could isolate every Serb ambassador and general consul along with their staff in the diplomatic and consular missions.

"With this statement, Konaković is announcing, inciting, and provoking national and religious intolerance and hatred, which goes against all civilization norms, as his announcement of isolation would lead to intolerance and hatred within BiH's diplomatic-consular missions," Sajić told SRNA. She pointed out that in most legal systems, inciting religious and national hatred is a criminal act, as it directly threatens interpersonal tolerance, peace, and coexistence. Highlighting that such Konaković's message is condemnable, she reminded of the Criminal Code of BiH, which stipulates that anyone who publicly incites or provokes national, racial, or religious hatred, division, or intolerance among the constitutive peoples and others living in BiH will be punished with imprisonment from three months to three years. "Instead of calling for respect for the Constitution and a dialogue among the political representatives of all three constitutive peoples, and seeking a democratic and peaceful resolution to BiH's greatest crisis so far, Konaković would like to isolate, and it is clear what his isolation would cause in diplomatic-consular missions," Sajić emphasized. She adds that Konaković's message is contrary to interpersonal tolerance, peace, and coexistence, and stressed that Serb ambassadors and general consuls act in accordance with the Constitution and laws. Pointing to the usurpation of the Constitution and laws by the illegal High Representative, who violates the Dayton Accords, the Dayton institutions, and takes away the constitutional powers of Republika Srpska while undermining the democratic rights of the constitutive people by invalidating their electoral will, Sajić emphasized that Serb diplomats are defending both the Constitution and democracy. Serb ambassadors and general consuls of BiH have rejected the second-instance ruling of the unconstitutional BiH Court against the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, and stressed that in their further service at the highest diplomatic positions in host countries and international organizations, they will be treating this ruling as legally null and void, unconstitutional, and politically motivated, aiming to violently discredit the legally and legitimately elected president of Republika Srpska.