# Cvijanović promulgates Republika Srpska law rejecting genocide-denial ban

Date: 2021

On 13 October 2021, [Željka Cvijanović](/people/zeljka-cvijanovic), then president of Republika Srpska, promulgated legislation saying the entity would not apply a genocide-denial ban imposed at Bosnia's state level by the High Representative. RFE/RL reported the decree as part of an escalating institutional confrontation over the authority of the international overseer and the state legal order.

The direct act was the promulgation of the entity law. Cvijanović and other Bosnian Serb leaders argued that the High Representative lacked democratic legitimacy to impose criminal law and that Republika Srpska was defending its constitutional competences. The documented harm is narrower: an entity executive used formal authority to direct nonapplication of a state-level rule, reinforcing a pattern in which institutions in one part of Bosnia were encouraged to treat binding state decisions as unenforceable. The fact therefore connects to rule-of-law erosion and the continuing constitutional crisis around Republika Srpska through a formal presidential act.

## People

- Željka Cvijanović: https://factrail.ai/people/zeljka-cvijanovic

## Drivers

- Bosnia and Herzegovina constitutional crisis around Republika Srpska: https://factrail.ai/drivers/bosnia-and-herzegovina-constitutional-crisis-around-republika-srpska
- Rule of Law: https://factrail.ai/drivers/rule-of-law

## Sources

- https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/predsjednica-republike-srpske-ukaz-negiranje-genocida/31506683.html
- https://dev.balkaninsight.com/2021/10/13/bosnian-serb-decree-rejecting-genocide-denial-law-sparks-uncertainty/btj

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ba-cvijanovic-promulgates-genocide-denial-nonapplication-law-2021-10-13