— Leonardo Torelli —

Leonardo holds a MA in Law from the University of Bologna, Italy. During his studies, he was an Erasmus student at the University of Vienna for one year, studying mainly international law. Leonardo has always been interested in the Western Balkan region which led him to write his final dissertation in international criminal law, focusing on the relationship between criminal law and transitional justice in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This also brought him to Sarajevo, where he is excited to have the opportunity to do some fieldwork. His main fields of interest are memorial laws, criminalization of denial, and the relationship between history and law.

Punishing Denial: Thoughts on the Amendment to the Bosnian Criminal Code

On July 23rd, 2021, Valentin Inzko, the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), introduced a Law on the Amendment to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina punishing the denial of international crimes and glorification of war criminals. Coming shortly before the end of his mandate, this decision, in Inzko’s words, was taken after “all chances offered to the domestic authorities to distance themselves from war criminals were ultimately rejected.”