The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, is not only not competent to interfere in the internal affairs of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), but international law explicitly prohibits him from doing so. BiH and the Republic of Serbia are sovereign and legally equal states, said the member of the Presidency of BiH, Denis Becirovic.
Becirovic emphasized that BiH is a full member of the United Nations (UN), the Council of Europe, the OSCE, and numerous other international organizations.
“Among other things, I draw attention to the following acts that prohibit the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, from interfering in the internal affairs of the state of BiH: the UNCharter from 1945, the Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty from 1965, the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter of the UN from 1970, the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe from 1975, and the Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention and Interference in the Internal Affairs of States from 1981,” he stated.
He stressed that the Republic of Serbia further committed to this by signing the General Framework Agreement for Peace in BiH in 1995, whose Article 1 explicitly specifies that the parties will conduct their relations in accordance with the principles set out in the UN Charter, as well as in the Helsinki Final Act and other documents of OSCE.
“In the General Framework Agreement for Peace in BiH, Article 10 clearly states: the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of BiH recognize each other as sovereign, independent states within their internationally recognized borders. The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, is not competent to change the General Framework Agreement for Peace in BiH, which was signed by the Republic of BiH, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, whose legal successor is the Republic of Serbia, and the Republic of Croatia, and which was witnessed by the world’s greatest powers as guarantors of the Dayton Peace Agreement,” said Becirovic.
He reminded that Annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement established that the High Representative will oversee the implementation of this international agreement and that the signatory states will fully cooperate with the High Representative and that Article 5 of this annex clearly stipulates that the High Representative is the final interpreter of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
“That is why I emphasize – the President of Serbia is not competent to interpret the Dayton Peace Agreement nor to oversee its implementation. According to the Dayton Peace Agreement, that right belongs to the High Representative. The Constitution of BiH, Annex 4 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, stipulates that the Constitutional Court of BiH, among other things, has exclusive jurisdiction to decide on any dispute arising under this Constitution and which is between the entities, or between BiHand an entity, or between entities and the institutions of BiH. The decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH are final and binding. Therefore, the President of neighboring Serbia is not competent to interpret the Constitution of BiH,” Becirovic stated.
He emphasized that there is not a single provision in the Dayton Peace Agreement that mentions the possibility of the destruction of the state of BiH.
“On the contrary, the BiH Constitution explicitly states that the state of BiH will assume additional competencies necessary for the preservation of sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence, and international subjectivity of BiH,” said the BiH Presidency member.
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, he added, must, as written in the Constitution, respect the sovereignty of the state of BiH.
“The existence of independent judicial institutions, the Court of BiH, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, and the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of BiH, is based on the Constitution of BiH and the laws unanimously adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH (PABiH). This has been confirmed by the competent institutions that are authorized interpreters and guarantors of the protection of the Constitution of BiH. The President of Serbia is not competent to interpret or interfere in the work of the judiciary in other states, and especially not to act as an interpreter and guarantor of the Constitution of BiH. The independence of the judiciary in BiH is guaranteed by the state and protected by national and international law. It is the duty of all institutions, governmental and others, to respect the independence of the judiciary,” Becirovic said.
He emphasized that the first-instance verdict of the Court of BiHagainst the President of Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, has nothing to do with the entity of RS or the Serbian people, just as, he said, the verdicts against high officials from the Bosniak and Croat peoples have nothing to do with Bosniaks and Croats.
“There can be no negotiations regarding the decisions and verdicts of BiH‘s independent judicial institutions. That is why the statement of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, that the verdict against Milorad Dodik is a verdict against the Serbian people as a whole is completely unfounded and irresponsible,” Becirovic stated.
He said that the anti-Dayton and illegal activities of the RS president and his associates, which endanger the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the state of BiH, constitute a serious criminal offense.
“The President of Serbia is not competent to interpret the criminal legislation of the state of BiH, and it is particularly unacceptable that he supports open, anti-Dayton attempts to dismantle the state of BiH. In the end, I am convinced that the vast majority of citizens of neighboring Serbia, as well as of BiH, want peace, friendly and interstate relations, cooperation, and development. The two independent and sovereign states, BiH and the Republic of Serbia, should build good and equal interstate relations based on the principle of sovereign equality of states, as well as all other principles on which the UN is founded. The region needs peace, stability, development, and cooperation among states,” concluded Becirovic.
