UNCONSTITUTIONAL RETROACTIVE APPLICATION OF THE CRIMINATION OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN THE PRACTICE OF THE COURT OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Abstract

The retroactive application of the criminal law is an issue that has been attracting the attention of the public in BiH for a long time. The reason for this is the fact that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina applies the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2003 in its judgments to criminal events that took place from 1992 to 1995. What kind of problems such a practice can lead to is best seen in the incrimination of crimes against humanity. It was not prescribed by the law that was in force at the time of the civil war in BiH, but was introduced by the Criminal Code of BiH from 2003. With this indictment, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina first accuses certain persons of the events from 1992 to 1995, after which the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina convicts them of the same incrimination. It is a form of its unconstitutional retroactive application and that problem is the subject of this paper. It exposes and criticizes corresponding unconstitutional decisions of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, unfortunately, were also confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights. For this reason, the paper criticized the practice of that court related to this problem, after which the author presented the reasons that can explain such court practice, as well as the consequences that may occur as a result of this in the future.