The Prime Minister of the Republika Srpska, Radovan Višković, announced today that a case has been opened regarding the celebration of the RS Day at the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Let us recall that the entity authorities marked January 9 as the Day of the Republika Srpska, although the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared that date unconstitutional in its judgments from 2015 and 2019.
According to him, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH was so expeditious that they requested that the documentation be delivered to them by the end of working hours yesterday.
January 9 is celebrated as the Day of the Republika Srpska because, as they say, it was on that date in 1992 that the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was established under its original name, the Serbian Republic of BiH.
Judgments of the Constitutional Court of BiH
On November 26, 2015, upon an appeal by the then member of the Presidency of BiH, Bakir Izetbegović, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the highest judicial institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina, found that January 9, as the Day of the Republika Srpska, was unconstitutional.
The court ruled that January 9th was a date, not the celebration of Republika Srpska Day as a holiday.
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not deny the right of believers to celebrate the feast of Saint Stephen, nor the day of Republika Srpska, but it determined that the Day of Republika Srpska could not be January 9th.
On September 25, 2016, the Referendum Commission conducted a referendum on January 9th, although the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina had banned its holding. The court then annulled the results of the citizens’ vote.
Soon after, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NARS) removed the Law on Republika Srpska Day from the Law on Holidays and adopted it as a separate secular holiday. A request for a review of the constitutionality of that law was filed by nine delegates, Bosniaks and Croats, in the Council of Peoples of Republika Srpska.
On March 29, 2019, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina again declared January 9 unconstitutional, i.e. annulled a part of the article of the Law on the Day of Republika Srpska that reads “based on the confirmed will of the citizens of Republika Srpska, January 9 is established as the Day of the Republic”.
The contested provision, which reads:
“‘Based on the confirmed will of the citizens of Republika Srpska, January 9 is established as the Day of the Republic’, is not in accordance with Article I/2 of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Article II/4 of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina in conjunction with Article 1.1 and Article 2.a) and c) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and Article VI/5 of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The contested provision is repealed and is ordered to cease to be valid on the day following the date of publication of the decision in the Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
The decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina was preceded by the position of the Venice Commission, which labeled the Day of Republika Srpska as “discriminatory, because it is not in line with the universal values of dialogue, tolerance and understanding”.
As stated, “it is based on historical events that are significant and important for only one people in Republika Srpska, namely the Serbian people”.
