The lawsuit was initiated due to Dodik's advocacy of the persecution of LGBTI activists in 2023, who were attacked by hooligans in that city.
Dodik then justified the violence and, in a public appearance, called for "elimination."
"All activists of that group should be banned from schools to propagate such things, and that content of that kind should be removed from textbooks. I think that it pollutes public space, social space, and I think it should be eliminated," Dodik said at the time, among other things.
Aggravating circumstance: Dodik was the President of Republika Srpska
In its first-instance verdict, the Banja Luka Court established as an aggravating circumstance for Dodik the fact that he was the President of Republika Srpska at the time he made the disputed statements and recalled the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, which emphasizes that politicians and those who hold positions in government are expected to have a higher level of responsibility in public speech, since their statements have a significant social impact and can contribute to intolerance towards minority groups and influence the behavior of other actors in society.
The verdict states that the disputed statements contain elements of generalization of an entire social group, stigmatization and delegitimization of their presence in public space and society, and call for their institutional and social exclusion, thus exceeding the limits of personal value judgment.
Further undertaking of the same or similar actions is prohibited.
The court prohibited Dodik from further undertaking the same or similar actions that violate or may violate the right to equal treatment of members of the LGBTI community.
Lawyer Dzenana Hadziomerovic, who represented SOC in this proceeding, emphasized that she was encouraged by the fact that the court in Banja Luka consistently applied the amendments to the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination of BiH and the European Convention on Human Rights.
"It is significant that the courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina are increasingly clearly applying the principle that no politician, regardless of the office they hold, has an unlimited right to freedom of expression if such statements violate the right to equal treatment of LGBTI persons or any other minority or vulnerable social group or individual," she said.
