Sarajevo: The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced Friday the suspension of separatist decisions taken in the Republika Srpska (RS), one of the country’s two entities.
According to Anadolu Agency, the Constitutional Court convened in an extraordinary session regarding the tension in the country after RS President Milorad Dodik signed decisions banning state institutions of the Supreme Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (VSTV), the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Bosnia and Herzegovina Research and Protection Agency (SIPA) from operating in the entity.
In the statement made by the court, temporary measures would be taken regarding the separatist decisions by the RS and that the decisions, which are unconstitutional, have been suspended. The statement pointed out that efforts were being made to prevent damage to the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that the final decision on the separat
ist decisions by RS will be soon made by the Supreme Court.
Denis Becirovic, Bosniak member of the Presidency Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, stated at a news conference that there was an attack on the constitutional order of the country. ‘Those who did this should be ready to assume criminal, political and any other responsibility,’ he said.
The National Assembly of the RS (NSRS) voted last week to ban the activities of state institutions VSTV, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and SIPA in the RS entity. Dodik announced that he had signed the decisions and would not respond to a summons from the court and the prosecutor’s office after they took effect, and that he would be protected by the RS police.
National media described the decisions by Dodik and the NSRS as a ‘coup.’ The decisions were taken after the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced Dodik to a year in prison and a six-year political ban for ‘not respecting the decisions of the Office
of the High Representative.”