The High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Christian Schmidt, will travel to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg to testify in the case of “Slaven Kovacevic,” following an appeal by the BiH Council of Ministers against the verdict. Schmidt’s trip to Strasbourg has triggered a wave of reactions.
It should be recalled that the ECHR ruled in favor of Slaven Kovacevic a year ago. He sued BiH for violating his voting rights as a member of the “Others.” The Council of Ministers of BiH appealed the decision, and now the final ruling is in the hands of the Grand Chamber of the ECHR.
BiH, through its legal representative, seeks to challenge Kovacevic’s claims, arguing that he, as a member of the “Others,” changed his national identification. This assertion aims to overturn the initial ruling of the Court.
The situation escalated when news emerged that Schmidt would testify in Strasbourg, prompting Kovacevic to respond. In a statement, Kovacevic accused Schmidt of being “a liar, a manipulator, and working in the interests of the HDZ.”
Kovacevic also claimed that Schmidt was not invited to testify by the Court but had instead requested to appear voluntarily through a United Kingdom (UK) law firm.
“On my part, I contacted the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council, asking for their response, as he acted independently. He is not neutral at all. He lies about being neutral. He seeks to protect a system that was defined by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague as a joint criminal enterprise that resulted in ethnic cleansing in BiH. Schmidt wants to protect that system. Can we trust such a man?” Kovacevic asked, continuing:
“I am glad that today we stand before the building of the Office of the High Representative (OHR), where a great manipulator and liar sits – Christian Schmidt, a strong supporter of HDZ and their policies. This man, once the German Minister of Agriculture, somehow gained unimaginable diplomatic experience, and he is a great admirer of Nazi war pilots. This man deceives the BiH public by claiming that the Court invited him to appear as a friend of the Court, which is not even a real thing according to the ECHR rules. On the contrary, he requested, through a prominent UK law firm, to appear as a third-party intervener in Strasbourg, aiming to defend ethnic policies in BiH by arguing that the Dayton Peace Agreement, as he sees it, established a power-sharing system between the constituent peoples that should remain untouched, despite its clear contradiction with the ECHR.”
The OHR responded to these statements in a public statement, claiming that Schmidt was indeed invited to participate as a friend of the court (amicus curiae) to provide independent information, something that previous High Representatives had done in other cases.
Refik Lendo (SDA), Vice President of the Federation of BiH (FBiH), spoke publicly saying that it is not appropriate for Schmidt to take part in the Kovacevic case.
“I express my strong personal opposition to such a poor decision of his, due to the harmful consequences it will have on the political system of BiH, as well as on the rule of law and democratic society as a whole. Particularly harmful is the political message implied by such a decision, which suggests support for the goals of Croatian national policy in BiH. I call on the High Representative to reconsider his decision to participate in the appeal process before the ECHR in the case ‘Kovacevic vs. BiH’ and to rely on the opinion of the Peace Implementation Council, which, according to media reports, opposes his participation in the case,” Lendo said.
He believes that Schmidt should not take part in this case, not even in the form of a “friendly opinion,” stating that the case of “Kovacevic vs. BiH” defends the principles of civic political representation and that Schmidt, “through his own authority and the authority of the international community, in the perception of the general and political public, would support the realization of the goals of Croatian national policy and the principle of ethnic political representation.”
“The High Representative has the obligation, through the authority of his office, to provide strong support and influence political actors in power to implement the rulings of the ECHR in the group of cases ‘Sejdic and Finci’ and use them as a legal and political basis with the aim of eliminating all forms of discrimination from the political system of BiH, to fully democratize the electoral process as the fundamental tool of representative democracy, to organize the country on the principle of civic political representation, and thus create the necessary conditions for BiH to transition from the Dayton framework to a Brussels state structure,” Lendo stated.
However, the reactions didn’t stop there. Goran Bubic, lawyer for Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik, who is accused of criminal contempt for disobeying decisions by the High Representative, also weighed in.
In a column fully published by RS media, Bubic said:
“The invitation for Christian Schmidt to testify before the ECHR, regardless of the circumstances, proves that there is no reason why he shouldn’t also be called to testify before the Court of BiH, especially since Schmidt has not publicly invoked immunity.”
Kovacevic has asked the Peace Implementation Council’s Steering Board for clarification on Schmidt’s independent decision to go to Strasbourg. If it turns out that Schmidt is not acting as a friend of the court, but instead voluntarily, it could strengthen Dodik’s defense, which has been pushing for Schmidt to testify in the case against him, N1 writes.
E.Dz.
