The German Federal Government expects Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) authorities to take action against those responsible under current legislation and hold them accountable for threatening Christian Schmidt, a German diplomat and international community’s High Representative in BiH in charge of overseeing the implementation of the civilian aspect of the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, Anadolu news agency reported Friday.

“The death threats against High Representative Christian Schmidt that were addressed to him in Banja Luka during a protest rally against his decision on the RS Immovable Property Law on April 20th do not justify the right to freedom of speech and are completely unacceptable,” the German Embassy in BiH said.

The Embassy noted that freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are the basic pillars of democracy and that the Federal Government of Germany supports and promotes these basic freedoms.

“However, these freedoms must be responsibly applied and enforced. The Federal Government strongly condemns any abuse,” the Embassy stressed.

The death threats were addressed to the High Representative in the presence of BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik during the gathering of citizens in Banja Luka at the Sloboda rally.