The decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina will no longer be applied on the territory of the Republika Srpska, it was decided at the session of the National Assembly of the RS in Banja Luka today.
That legislative body adopted the Law on non-application of decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH in the RS, with 56 votes out of 65 present.
Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska and one of the proposers of the law, said earlier during the session that after the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he will ban the operation of the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity.
Dodik, who is also the leader of the strongest parliamentary party in this entity, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), warned that this will happen if there is no political agreement in BiH level – that is, the adoption of the Law on the Constitutional Court of BiH.
For Dodik and other members of the ruling coalition in the RS, it is disputed that the Constitutional Court of BiH changed the rulebook, deciding that judges from the RS do not have to attend the sessions where certain issues are decided, thus preventing possible blockages of decision-making from this BiH entity.
At the session on June 19, this judicial body deleted the article of the rulebook which stipulates that “at least one judge from Republika Srpska and three judges from the Federation” must attend the sessions where the constitutionality of laws passed at the BiH level or lower levels is decided.
The Draft Law states that decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH will not be applied and executed on the territory of the RS until the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH passes the Law on the Constitutional Court.
Also, it was stated that “persons who are obliged to act according to the provisions of this law are exempted from criminal responsibility prescribed by the criminal legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with regard to criminal acts related to the execution of this law and will be protected by the institutions of the RS”.
The amendment of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) was accepted, specifying that the law refers to the period after the amendments to the rules of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The proposers of the law are Milorad Dodik, MPs and the Government of the RS.
At its session on June 21, NSRS adopted conclusions which, among other things, invite the representatives of this BiH entity to withdraw from the work of the state Parliament if the Law on the Constitutional Court of BiH is not adopted.
“The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is losing its legitimacy”
During his address, Dodik said, among other things, that he will deal with the courts that apply the decisions of the Constitutional Court.
“The moment some judge in, say, Trebinje or East Sarajevo returns a decision for a new decision by order of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we will abolish that court,” warned Dodik.
He proposed his solution for the work of the Constitutional Court, according to which, of the nine judges in it, three would be from the RS, six from the Federation of BiH (with three Bosniaks and Croats each), and they would decide by a simple majority, in which there would be one judge each from of each constituent nation.
Speaking on behalf of the proponent, the Minister of Justice of the RS, Miloš Bukejlović, said that “by making decisions without the required number of judges, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina loses its legitimacy”.
“Inevitably, the question arises as to who and what kind of decisions are made. Do they only represent the decisions of judges from one entity and the international community”, asked Bukejlović.
According to his interpretation, the amendments to the rules of the Constitutional Court leave “a wide and unregulated space for decision-making”.
The head of the Club of the opposition Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) in the NSRS, Vukota Govedarica, said that “one cannot shake the impression that this is not the first time we are hearing this”, and that he had heard the same story as a deputy “at least 15-20 times”.
He recalled earlier laws and decisions adopted by the NSRS, so they were not implemented, and they concern, among other things, the establishment of the entity Agency for Medicines.
He also warned of the paradox that this law will probably end up in the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Igor Žunić, the head of the SNSD Club in the NSRS, said that the deputies work “in accordance with the powers that the Republika Srpska has according to Dayton”, Radio Slobodna Evropa reports.
