In Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is common for politicians to sue journalists for defamation. Every year an average of 150 lawsuits are filed against journalists and the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in almost 70 percent of these cases the plaintiffs are politicians and other public officials.
Journalist and analyst from Banja Luka Tanja Topić did something unusual – she sued one of the most powerful politicians in the country for defamation.
In May 2021, Tanja Topić was targeted by the then member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and president of the SNSD party, Milorad Dodik, who publicly accused her of being a “proven agent of the German BND (foreign intelligence service of Germany), acting through her NGO“.
“The people in my area know that she is in the service of the German intelligence structures, and they know what the Germans did here and how those who were quislings got by. She is a proven quisling”, said Dodik.
After these statements, Topić filed a defamation lawsuit against Milorad Dodik, explaining that “it’s more than obvious that the contested statement was an extremely rude and brutal attack on the plaintiff’s reputation and honor, and that in addition, the contested statement put in serious danger the plaintiff and members of her family.”
The Basic Court in Banja Luka, however, didn’t think so. In the first-instance verdict, which was passed on December 2 last year, the Court concluded that Milorad Dodik is not guilty of defamation, and his public accusation that Tanja Topić is a spy working for foreign intelligence services is nothing more than “expressing a value judgment/opinion” and does not harm Topić’s reputation.
In the explanation of the decision of the Basic Court in Banja Luka rejecting the defamation lawsuit, it is stated that “the plaintiff (Tanja Topić) is a public figure as an activist in the NGO sector and a ‘political analyst’, that it is indisputable that the first defendant (Milorad Dodik) political activity and programs are constantly criticized by ‘political analysts’, including the public activities of the plaintiff himself, so this means that the plaintiff clearly does not respect the first defendant as a person, and then the question arises as to why the first defendant would respect the plaintiff…”.
In short, Tanja Topić, as a political analyst, has been criticizing the authorities in Republika Srpska for years, which, the Court believes, means that she “disrespects” Milorad Dodik as a person.
The verdict of the Basic Court in Banja Luka surprised only a few. In a country where the influence of politics on the judiciary is one of the hot topics, even the greatest optimists didn’t expect that the Court would rule that Milorad Dodik was guilty of defamation.
Legal expert and one of the founders of the Banja Luka Center for Human Rights, Dejan Lučka, in a detailed analysis of the aforementioned verdict, concludes somewhat philosophically that “shame does not exist in court, but there are metaphors and fear of the empire”.
“Such a shameful interpretation of the Basic Court is a true indicator of the fear that judges have to rule against the interests of one of the ‘high’ politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Lučka believes.
Tanja Topić’s lawyers filed an appeal against the first-instance verdict of the Basic Court in Banja Luka. In the past months, Tanja Topić was supported by numerous domestic and international organizations, representatives of embassies, journalist associations and the media… Creating “enemies” and “quislings” is a pattern according to which the government in Republika Srpska has been operating for years, says Tanja Topić:
“Every criticism, every voice that is different, that by name and surname pointed to violations of the law, abuses, clientelism, corruption, nepotism, that criticized democratic deficits in society and belittling institutions, according to that pattern is presented as an enemy of society and a foreign mercenary.”
U Bosni i Hercegovini je uobičajeno da političari tuže novinare zbog klevete. Svake godine protiv novinara i medija u BiH podnese se u prosjeku oko 150 tužbi, a u skoro 70 posto slučajeva tužitelji su političari i drugi javni funkcioneri.
Novinarka i analitičarka iz Banjaluke Tanja Topić uradila je nešto nesvakidašnje – za klevetu je tužila jednog od najmoćnijih političara u zemlji.
U maju 2021. godine, Tanja Topić našla se na meti tadašnjeg člana Predsjedništva Bosne i Hercegovine i predsjednika stranke SNSD Milorada Dodika, koji ju je javno optužio da je “dokazani agent njemačkog BND, koji djeluje preko njene nevladine organizacije“.
“Narod u mom kraju zna da je u funkciji njemačkih obavještajnih struktura, a zna se šta su Nijemci ovdje radili i kako su prolazili oni koji su bili kvislinzi. Ona je dokazani kvisling“, izjavio je Dodik.
Nakon ovih izjava, Topić je podnijela tužbu protiv Milorada Dodika za klevetu, uz obrazloženje da je „više nego jasno da je spornom izjavom na krajnje bezobrazan i brutalan način izvršen atak na ugled i čast tužitelja, da je pored toga spornom izjavom doveden u ozbiljnu opasnost tužitelj i članovi njegove porodice.“
Osnovni sud u Banjaluci, međutim, nije mislio tako. U prvostepenoj presudi, koja je donesena 2. decembra prošle godine, Sud je zaključio da Milorad Dodik nije kriv za klevetu, te da njegova javna optužba da je Tanja Topić špijun koji radi za strane obavještajne službe predstavlja tek “iznošenje vrijednosnog suda/mišljenja” i ne šteti ugledu Topićeve.
U obrazloženju odluke banjalučkog Osnovnog suda kojom se odbija tužba za klevetu Tanje Topić navodi se i da je “tužitelj (Tanja Topić) javna ličnost kao aktivista u nevladinom sektoru i ‘politički analitičar’, da je neosporno da se prvotuženi (Milorad Dodik), negova politička djelatnost i programi, stalno kritikuju od strane ‘političkih analitičara’, uključujući i javno djelovanje samog tužitelja, pa to znači da tužitelj očigledno ne poštuje prvotuženog kao ličnost, te se onda postavlja pitanje zašto bi prvotuženi poštovao tužitelja…“.
Ukratko, Tanja Topić kao politička analitičarka godinama kritikuje vlast u Republici Srpskoj, a to, smatra Sud, znači da ona “ne poštuje” Milorada Dodika kao ličnost.
Presuda Osnovnog suda u Banjaluci samo je rijetke iznenadila. U državi u kojoj je utjecaj politike na pravosuđe jedna od gorućih tema, ni najveći optimisti nisu očekivali da će Sud presuditi da je Milorad Dodik kriv zbog klevete.
Pravni ekspert i jedan od osnivača Banjalučkog centra za ljudska prava Dejan Lučka u detaljnoj analizi navedene presude pomalo filozofski zaključuje da “sramota kod suda ne postoji, ali postoje metafore i strah od carstva”.
“Ovakvo sramotno tumačenje Osnovnog suda je pravi pokazatelj straha koji sudije imaju da presude protiv interesa nekog od ‘visokih’ političara u BiH”, smatra Lučka.
Na prvostepenu presudu Osnovnog suda u Banjaluci advokati Tanje Topić uložili su žalbu. Proteklih mjeseci podršku Tanji Topić dale su brojne domaće i međunarodne organizacije, predstavnici ambasada, novinarska udruženja i mediji… Stvaranje „neprijatelja“ i „kvislinga“ je obrazac po kojem vlast u Republici Srpskoj funkcioniše godinama, kaže Tanja Topić:
„Svaka kritika, svaki glas koji je drugačiji, koji je imenom i prezimenom ukazivao na kršenje zakona, povrede, zloupotrebe, na klijentelizam, korupciju, nepotizam, koji je kritikovao demokratske deficite u društvu, omalovažavanje institucija, po tom obrascu je predstavljen kao neprijatelj društva i strani plaćenik.“