SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (LifeSiteNews) — The government of Bosnia and Herzegovina has become the first and only in Europe to strike down the requirement of domestic COVID passports for entry to commercial establishments. Vaccination or recovery, as well as a recent negative test, is still necessary for most travelers to enter into the country.
Gript reported January 5 that COVID passports “were shot down” after President of the Bosnian Party (BOSS) and lawyer Mirnes Ajanović challenged them in a “constitutional and legal battle.”
According to BiH News, Ajanović used the country’s constitution and laws, and evidence that the vaccinated as well as the unvaccinated transmit COVID-19, to argue against the government’s COVID passport decree, aiming to stop “totalitarianism and discrimination” against Bosnian citizens.
It was announced on Twitter that Ajanović had won a lawsuit brought to the “Bosnian Supreme Court.” The Twitter user shared a video in which Ajanović declared victory after “fighting for the rights of citizens.” He concluded, “The fight continues, it’s still not over, we haven’t won the war.”
According to Gript, Ajanović “argued that the proposed introduction of COVID passports… would represent a form of discrimination against citizens and a violation of basic rights and freedoms, such as the right to freedom of movement, opinion, labour, assembly and expression, which he said must not be tolerated.”
The outlet also reported that according to Ajanović’s office, a meeting was held on December 10, International Human Rights Day, “between lawyers from Bosnia and Herzegovina and neighbouring state Serbia to send a public message that ‘all legal means must thwart any attack on human rights’ and ‘any conspiracy against the constitution of states, laws, freedoms of citizens and fundamental human rights anywhere in the world.’”
On January 1, 2022, Bosnian news source Oslobodenje shared that Ajanović is filing criminal charges against Dr. Ednan Drljević, Head of the Infectious Disease Department at the General Hospital in Sarajevo, for “discriminatory attitudes towards unvaccinated people.”
Drljević reportedly gave a New Year’s Message telling Bosnians to “avoid unvaccinated people,” and to not “accept” them “into their society.”
The Ajanović-led BOSS announced that Drljevic’s message was given “in a manner typical of the most radical Nazis convicted during the Nuremberg Trials,” and pointed out that it “ignor[ed] the position of the World Health Organization from November 24, 2021 that the vaccinated can be infected and transmit the virus as well as the unvaccinated.”
Ajanović said that consequently, Drljević “will face criminal charges with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office … for prohibited discrimination … degrading, humiliating or insulting environment,” accusations which amount to “harassment” and “bullying.”
According to BiH, Ajanović’s “struggle should be a guide to other lawyers, academics and free thinkers around the world that freedom can be accomplished.”
While people are now not required, once in Bosnia, to “present proof of vaccination, a recent recovery or a recent negative test to access the ski slopes, restaurants, bars or cultural venues,” the Associated Press (AP) has pointed out that the COVID passport requirement applies to many incoming travelers.
“Travelers coming into Bosnia from the European Union, apart from Croatia, are required to have a negative pre-departure PCR test and proof of recent vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 to enter the country,” AP reported. “Citizens of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro are exempt from that rule.” These requirements for entry to Bosnia have been announced on the Bosnia and Herzegovina Border Police website.
It is estimated that about 38 percent of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 3.3 million people are fully vaccinated.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a member of the European Union.