Deputy speaker Pejo Krnic said that the law made it impossible for non-Serbs to enjoy equal rights as Serbs in the Republic of Srpska, although Croats and Muslims (Bosniaks) are constituent nations under the Constitution.
Krnic explained that in early August the parliament of the Serb entity adopted a law thanks to votes by Serb deputies under which the status of civilian war victim is granted to people who managed to submit documentation on their suffering in the war by the end of 1999. Most Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs who were detained in Serb-run concentration camps in the early 1990s did not manage to obtain the necessary documentation and submit it to local institutions until this deadline, because they now mainly live outside the entity or outside Bosnia-Herzegovina, Krnic explained.
On the other hand, the local authorities facilitated the entire process for Serbs, who were mostly the victims of shelling, he added.
Krnic said that the law also discriminated against non-Serbs whose homes were destroyed or who were the victims of retaliatory acts, although they lived outside areas affected directly by the war.
That is why, Krnic said, procedure has been launched to protect the rights of the groups who are discriminated against by the said law.