Smajić v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, dec., No. 48657/16, ECtHR (Fourth Section), 16 January 2018

Posts on an internet forum inciting disorder and racial and religious hatred. Lawful interference with freedom of expression.

Art. 10 ECHR

The conviction of the applicant for having published on a publicly accessible Internet forum several posts using insulting expressions does not disclose any appearance of violation of Article 10 ECHR. The posts described military actions that could have been undertaken against Serb villages in the Brčko District in the event of a war caused by the Republika Srpska’s secession. The Court noted that the contents of the posts, even if presented in a hypothetical form, were capable of disturbing interethnic relations in post-conflict Bosnian society. (In the instant case, the applicant alleged that his conviction for inciting national, racial and religious hatred, discord or intolerance breached his right to freedom of expression. The Court found the complaint manifestly ill-founded).