Article 1

This Law shall relieve from criminal prosecution or completely relieve from the imposed sentence or the non-served part of the sentence (hereinafter: amnesty) all persons who in the period between 1 January, 1991 and 22 December, 1995 committed any of the criminal acts laid down in the appropriate Criminal Codes which were applicable in the territory of the BiH Federation (hereinafter: the Federation), except for criminal acts against humanity and international law under Chapter XVI of the adopted Criminal Code of the SFRJ, crimes defined under the Statute of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the crimes of: murder under Article 36,  rape under Article 88, crimes against personal dignity and morality under Article 90, 91 and 92, as well as  aggravated cases of theft in the nature of robbery and robbery under Article 151, and Article 186, Paragraph 2 in conjunction with Article 182 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, if that law or any other appropriate law which was applicable in the territory of the Federation stipulates the punishment of these persons for those criminal acts.

Article 2

If the criminal proceedings have not been initiated against the persons referred to in Article l of this Law, the criminal proceedings shall not be initiated at all, and if the proceedings are underway, they shall be suspended.

If a sentence of imprisonment has been passed in a legally effective manner onto the person referred to in Article 1 of this Law, he or she shall be fully relieved from serving the sentence entirely, or from the part that has not been served.

Article 3

The decision on the application of amnesty shall be brought by the court before which the criminal proceedings are underway, or the court which tried the case in the first-instance, ex officio or at the request of the accused, convicted or the person who can lodge an appeal on behalf of the defendant.

The court is obliged to issue the decision referred to in Paragraph 1 of  this Article within three days following the date of entering into force of this Law, or within three days following the receipt of the request.

Article 4

The prosecutor, the defendant and his or her attorney, the convicted person, and the person who can lodge an appeal on behalf of the defendant in case he or she has submitted a request to be granted amnesty, may lodge an appeal against the decision on the application of the amnesty.

An appeal lodged against the decision on the application of amnesty shall not stay the execution of the decision.

Article 5

If the person whom the decision on the application of amnesty relates to is in custody or serving a sentence of imprisonment, the court shall order that he or she be released immediately.

Article 6

Provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code ( Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH, No. 43/98) shall be accordingly applied regarding the delivery of documents, setting and counting of time-limits, and the appeal procedure.

Article 7

This Law shall enter into force on the eighth day of its publication in the "Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH".

 

Chairman of the House of Peoples

Federation Parliament

Pero Madzar

Chairman of the House of Representatives

Federation Parliament

Enver Kreso

 

Comments:
Unofficial translation. Official Gazette FBH no. 48/99 of 3 December 1999.
Disclaimer:

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.