SMAJIĆ v. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA DECISION
5
applicant had been informed of his rights before the questioning and had
signed a form according to which he had stated that he did not require legal
assistance. He had not asked for Mr Mulahalilović. Furthermore, the
applicant had not claimed that he had made any incriminating statement
during the first round of questioning that had been used to convict him. The
Constitutional Court concluded, having assessed the overall fairness of the
proceedings, that there had been no violation of the applicant’s defence
rights.
12. The Constitutional Court furthermore rejected as manifestly illfounded the applicant’s complaint under Article 10. It reiterated that
freedom of expression, although wide, could be subject to restrictions
provided for by Article 10 § 2. In finding the applicant guilty of inciting
national, racial and religious hatred, discord or intolerance, the lower courts
had applied standards which had been in conformity with the domestic law
and the Convention. Referring to Pavel Ivanov v. Russia ((dec.),
no. 35222/04, 20 February 2007), the Constitutional Court held that in the
circumstances the applicant could not benefit from the protection afforded
by Article 10 of the Convention. Accordingly, after examining whether the
lower courts had correctly applied the criminal law and had given sufficient
and relevant reasons for the applicant’s conviction under Article 6 of the
Convention, it decided to reject this complaint as manifestly ill-founded.
Lastly, the court held that there had been no reason to examine separately
the complaints under Articles 9 and 14 of the Convention, as the applicant
had merely invoked them without any further substantiation.
B. Relevant domestic law
13. Article 160 of the 2003 BD Criminal Code (Krivični Zakon Brčko
Distrikta, BD Official Gazette nos. 10/03, 45/04, 6/05, 21/10, 9/13, 33/13
and 26/16), in so far as relevant, reads:
“(1) Any person who incites or stirs up national, racial or religious hatred, discord or
intolerance among the constituent peoples and others living in Brčko District [may] be
punished by a custodial sentence of no less than one year and not exceeding five
years.
...
(4) Materials and items which transmit the [kind of] messages listed in
paragraph 1 of this Article, as well as the tools for their production, multiplication or
dissemination, will be seized”.
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