First final verdict for discrimination against LGBTI persons issued in BiH

The first final verdict for discrimination against LGBTI people has been issued in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it relates to the public statement of Samra Ćosović Hajdarević, a former member of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) in the Assembly of the Sarajevo Canton, from 2019, the Sarajevo Open Center organization announced today.

The Cantonal Court in Sarajevo has issued a final verdict, establishing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and sexual characteristics, and the statement by Ćosović Hajdarević has been labeled as hate speech, Sarajevo media reported.

It is alleged that, after announcing the first pride parade in BiH in 2019, Ćosović Hajdarević posted a status on the social network Facebook that, among other things, contained calls for segregation, isolation, and discrimination against LGBTIQ people.

"Everyone has the right to live the life they want, and we also have the right to choose who we want to live with. I want people like this to isolate themselves and stay as far away from our children and society as possible. Let them go somewhere else and create their own city, state, laws, and rights that no one will challenge. But not here," she wrote at the time.

The Sarajevo Open Center, an organization working to improve the human rights of LGBTI people and women, filed a lawsuit against Ćosović Hajdarević, emphasizing that her public statements discriminated against LGBTI people and incited hatred.

In this case, a first-instance verdict was issued in 2022 by the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, after which the defendant exercised her right to appeal, which was dismissed as unfounded.

"This verdict is an important step forward in the protection of human rights and a strong message that hate speech will not be tolerated. I believe that it will encourage other associations and organizations to use the mechanism of collective lawsuits when the right to equal treatment of a large number of people, especially members of vulnerable and minority groups, has been violated," the media reported as saying by lawyer Dženana Hadžiomerović.

For the first time, a court in BiH has confirmed that sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics are real and applicable grounds for protection against discrimination.

The Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination was passed in 2009, but the first ruling on this basis was issued 17 years later, according to Sarajevo media.

"This ruling confirms the importance of the existence of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination in BiH and represents a small but important step on the long road towards the full implementation of the standards prescribed by that law," said Darko Pandurević from the Sarajevo Open Center.