The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina concluded its 124th plenary session today.
At the today’s plenary session, the Constitutional Court of BiH decided in the case U 16/20 (a request for resolving the dispute between BiH and the entity of RS, arising in connection with the awarding of state concessions), to postpone deciding on the interim measure until January 2022, when the next plenary session is scheduled.
Until then, the Constitutional Court will request from the participants in the proceedings to submit relevant information regarding the decision on interim measure in this case.
Furthermore, due to very vague and imprecise statements in the media regarding the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH in the case U 9/21, the Constitutional Court hereby informs the public that it adopted a final and binding Decision on Admissibility and Merits at the yesterday’s plenary session. In that decision, the Constitutional Court of BiH decided only and exclusively on the right of soldiers of the Armed Forces of BiH to wear a beard.
The Constitutional Court points out that it decided to do so because the applicant’s only request was for a constitutional review of Article 12 (2) and (4) of the Rules of Service of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It concerned an issue of an absolute ban on soldiers of the Armed Forces of BiH to wear a beard when on duty and in uniform.
In this decision, apart from wearing a beard, the Constitutional Court did not decide, for example, on the issue of wearing a hijab or on any other part of the uniform in the Armed Forces of BiH.
Also, we want to make it clear that this particular case does not concern a partial decision of the Constitutional Court in the way that another decision is expected in this case (for example, the decision on hijab). Therefore, in this case, the Decision on Admissibility and Merits was adopted, which is a final and binding decision by which the Constitutional Court of BiH ended the proceedings in this case.
The Constitutional Court did not receive any request for review of the constitutionality of the Rules of Service of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina in relation to wearing a hijab or in relation to any other part of the uniform in the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH adopted in the case U 9/21 will soon be posted on the website of the Constitutional Court of BiH.
From the decisions in AP cases adopted today at the plenary session, the Constitutional Court singles out:
AP 681/20 (Majlis of the Islamic Community Srebrenica) – The Constitutional Court concluded that the disputed decision of the County Court in Bijeljina (County Court) is in violation of the appellant’s right to property because the County Court, in the absence of legal framework for the procedure concerning the appellant, failed to directly protect the rights of the appellant by applying the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Convention.
All decisions adopted at today’s plenary session are delivered to the applicants/appellants within one month and posted at earliest possible date on the website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
