After the “expulsion” of the high representative and his decisions from the Republika Srpska (RS), it was decided to do the same for the domestic institutions. Decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) will no longer be applied in this entity, the entity government decided. Reactions are harsh.
In the joint statement of SDP BiH, Narod i Pravda (People and Justice) and Nasa stranka (Our party), coalition partners of Milorad Dodik (SNSD) at the state level, it is stated that the law adopted by the National Assembly of RS (NARS) represents a gross violation of the Constitution of BiH, the Dayton Peace Agreement and an open attack on the country’s constitutional and legal order.
A coup d’état
“We clearly recognize that this is not about any bluff or politicking, but about the intention to carry out an attack on the constitutional and legal order of BiH. The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has every obligation and responsibility to act in such cases,” the announcement states, calling on the authorities in the RS to appoint judges from this entity to the Constitutional Court of BiH.
The NARS adopted conclusions according to which the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH will no longer be published in this entity. This is a reaction to the decision of the Constitutional Court from a few days ago, when the court adopted a provision in its rulebook, according to which the votes of the judges elected by the entity parliaments are not required for decision-making, but a simple majority of five judges.
“The Constitutional Court of BiH makes a decision and says that the court in Trebinje or Istocno Sarajevo should return the proceedings to the beginning. The moment the judge accepts it, we will immediately come to this assembly and abolish that court, which will leave us without a court and without budget funds”, said the President of the RS Milorad Dodik, who is also the initiator of this law.
Part of the opposition also objected, although most of their MPs also supported the law.
The United States (U.S.): Attack on Dayton
The U.S. Embassy in BiH announced that it was a reckless attack on the Dayton Peace Agreement. They say that RS cannot unilaterally annul this obligation attributed to the Dayton Agreement, nor can it legally ignore the verdicts of the Constitutional Court.
Cause upon cause
The decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH to change the rulebook and enable voting without a representative of the judge elected by the entities, followed a months-long blockade of the work of the court because the RS parliament refused to appoint a judge and fill the vacancy after the retirement of the previous judge. However, the story about state property and earlier decisions of the Constitutional Court served the authorities in the RS to raise these issues and now, through the law, request the adoption of a law on the Constitutional Court of BiH as well as the closure of the OHR.
In the conclusions, which are an integral part of the law, the government of the RS is requested to prepare changes to the Criminal Code, in order to define sanctions for those who ignore the application of this law, that is, non-publication of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH. The prescribed punishment for that criminal offense will be one year in prison.
The beginning of legal secession
Nedim Ademovic, an expert in constitutional law from Sarajevo, said that the act of the National Assembly is the beginning of the entity’s legal secession from the state, DW reports.
E.Dz.
