Bosnia's Serb entity votes to not recognize Constitutional Court's decisions

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Bosnia and Herzegovina's Republika Srpska entity adopted a law on Tuesday annulling the validity of the Constitutional Court’s decisions.

The entity's National Assembly adopted the law with 56 out of 65 votes.

Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik said in a speech that the decision will be the foundation of the entity's independence.

Denis Becirovic, the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, called on the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, to dismiss Dodik.

The Croat Member of the Presidency, Zeljko Komsic, argued that Dodik was preparing for an attack with this move.

The US Embassy in Sarajevo said that the Serb entity violated the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in the country in 1995.

Last week, the entity's assembly decided not to publish any decisions taken by High Representative Schmidt in the Official Journal of the entity.

The Constitutional Court in Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of three Bosniak, three Serb and three Croat judges.

In order to overcome a crisis that emerged after two of the Serb judges withdrew and one of them was forced to retire, on June 19, an extraordinary decision was made to hold a session without the participation of Serb members.

Dodik, who reacted harshly to this step by the Constitutional Court to pave the way for the functioning of the court without the participation of Serb judges through a rule change, demanded that the decision be annulled.