After the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NARS)passed a law in Banja Luka according to which the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) will no longer be published, and after warning of political Sarajevo, especially in the direction of the international community, that this is an attack on the constitutional order, the reaction of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) appeared. Political actors in the Federation are unanimous: “It would be better that it didn’t,” writes Deutsche Welle (DW).
“The NARS attempt to undermine the authority of the Constitutional Court of BiH is an unacceptable insult to the Dayton Peace Agreement, a serious challenge to the rule of law in the RS, and an attack on the constitutional order of BiH. These decisions are illegal. Milorad Dodik is primarily responsible for this”, it was announced in the first reactions from the OHR to the Law on the Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court.
The OHR states that the high representative offers political cooperation to all actors in the RS, in order to help the National Assembly fulfill its legal duty, under the condition of full compliance with the Dayton Agreement.
“The first step can be the rejection of this bizarre and adventurous undermining of Dayton and Dayton institutions by Milorad Dodik. Our common priority is a prosperous future for everyone in BiH and to ensure that their will is reflected in the outcome of free democratic elections”, they stated in a statement from the OHR.
A seven-day deadline
“It is not a wise move”, is the reaction of the British Embassy in BiH, which warns that NARS supported an illegal and deliberate decision that has no legal basis in BiH. No entity has the right or possibility to question the supreme authority and integrity of the Constitutional Court of BiH, they say in this embassy, reacting to the adoption of the Law on the Non-Application of Decisions of the BiH Constitutional Court in RS.
Somewhat harsher reactions and warnings come from the political representatives of the Bosniak people. For the member of the Presidency, Denis Becirovic, the Dayton Agreement was put on hold with this decision, as he put it metaphorically. Becirovic says the key to his resuscitation lies with the international community.
“I give seven days to the international community, and especially to the witnesses of Dayton, to stop his destruction,” said Becirovic, without revealing what steps could be taken after that. Immediately before that, the Speaker of the BiH Parliament, Denis Zvizdic, announced that if the international community did not respond adequately, he would send an appeal to the Constitutional Court of BiH.
No sanctions?
From diplomatic sources in Sarajevo, it was unofficially found out that sanctions are not on the table for now, but that a model is being prepared that will have an effect in terms of the annulment of the Law on the Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court, given that only a few days earlier the NARS adopted the Law on the Non-Publication of Decisions ofHigh Representative.
“There is a discussion about a model that would avoid a situation where the decision that is made is unenforceable or rejected and thereby cause further radicalization,” diplomatic sources in Sarajevo told.
Also, there was a reaction from the Embassy of Russia in BiH, in which it was stated that the move of the NARS was a logical result of the move of the Constitutional Court of BiH. They do not rule out the influence of an external factor on the court’s decision to abolish the article of the Rules of Court, thereby removing the judges elected by the entities from decision-making.
“Point 1(d) of Article VI directly states that for appointments that will be made after the expiration of a period of five years from the first appointments, the Parliamentary Assembly may by law provide for a different way of electing three judges who are chosen by the President of the European Court of Human Rights “, the Embassy states, stressing that it perceives the accusations that the RS is blocking the appointment of Serbian members of the Constitutional Court as frivolous and false.
“It depends on the NARS when and whom it will choose for the composition of the Constitutional Court. That is its legal authority,” it was said from the Russian Embassy, Raport writes.
E.Dz.
