A central event will be held in Banja Luka today to mark the Day of the Republika Srpska, January 9, a date that the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared unconstitutional in two verdicts. Despite the verdicts of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the authorities in the Republika Srpska mark and celebrate this date as in previous years.
As announced, the commemoration program on January 9 will begin at 10 a.m. with the laying of wreaths at the Novi Zejtinlik military memorial cemetery in Sokolac.
The presentation of awards to deserving institutions and individuals is scheduled at 12:00 in the Banski dvor Banja Luka Cultural Center.
The session of the Senate of the Republika Srpska will be held in the Palace of the Republic at 2 p.m.
The ceremonial parade on the occasion of January 9 will be held at Trg Krajine in Banja Luka, starting at 5 p.m.
Constitutional Court of BiH: Unconstitutional January 9 as Republika Srpska Day
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the highest judicial institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on November 26, 2015 found that January 9 is unconstitutional as the Republika Srpska Day.
In a decision from 2015, the Constitutional Court disputed January 9 as a date, and not the celebration of Republika Srpska Day as a holiday.
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not dispute the right of believers to celebrate the baptism of Saint Stephen, nor the day of the Republika Srpska, but it determined that the Day of the RS cannot be January 9.
On September 25, 2016, the Referendum Commission held a referendum on January 9, although the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina prohibited its holding and then annulled the results of the citizens’ declaration.
Soon, the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska (NSRS) removed the Law on the Day of the Republika Srpska from the Law on Holidays and adopted it as a special secular holiday. The request for the evaluation of the constitutionality of that law was submitted by Bosniak and Croat delegates to the Council of Peoples of the Republika Srpska.
On March 29, 2019, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina again declared January 9 unconstitutional, i.e. annulled the part of the article of the Law on the Day of the Republika Srpska which reads “based on the confirmed will of the citizens of the Republic of Srpska, January 9 is established as the Day of the Republic”.
The contested provision reads as follows:
“‘On the basis of the confirmed will of the citizens of Republika Srpska, January 9 is established as Republic Day’, 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 connection 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. to cease to be valid on the following day from 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 Republika Srpska Day as “discriminatory, because it is not in accordance 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 the Republika Srpska, that is, for the Serbian people”.
The position of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Celebrating January 9 as Republika Srpska Day violates not only the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also the Constitution of BiH. entity Republika Srpska, the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina announced.
The mission called on the authorities in Republika Srpska to respect the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Stating that disobeying the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina constitutes a criminal offense, the high representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, previously called on the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the police to take appropriate steps prescribed by law.
“It is up to the law enforcement authorities, the BiH Prosecutor’s Office and the police to take the appropriate next steps prescribed by law, especially in cases related to public officials and civil servants and their participation in the preparation or organization of the January 9 celebration,” said in December the high representative Christian Schmidt.
Let us remind you that on January 9, 1992 in Sarajevo, the then Assembly of the Serbian People in Bosnia and Herzegovina passed the “Declaration on the Proclamation of the Republic of the Serbian People of Bosnia and Herzegovina” – in the areas of “Serbian autonomous regions and areas and other Serbian ethnic entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina , and on the basis of the plebiscite held on November 9 and 10, 1991, in which the Serbian people declared for remaining in the common state of Yugoslavia”.
The first leadership consisted of Radovan Karadžić, Biljana Plavšić and Momčilo Krajišnik, who were later convicted at the Hague Tribunal for war crimes.
