Ahatović on the new Criminal Code of the RS: Military matters are exclusively under state jurisdiction

The new Criminal Code of the Republika Srpska should be adopted by mid-2017. As announced by the legislator, the new law also envisages a series of measures for the protection of the constitutional order, writes Patria.

Imprisonment is foreseen for preventing the fight against the enemy, forming paramilitary and parapolice units, and undermining the defence capability of the Republika Srpska.

The creators of the law explain that with this unusual article they wanted to protect the integrity of the RS. The fact that something has not happened yet, they say, does not mean it will not.

- For example, we have an attack on the constitutional order. The Criminal Code must go ahead of the situations and the moment in which we live. These are situations that are foreseeable and that the Ministry of Justice, as someone responsible for this part of the legislation, must foresee as a possibility, says Ivanka Marković, a member of the Working Group for drafting the Criminal Code of the RS.

According to the opinion of military analyst Professor Nedžad Ahatović, if such a law is adopted, it will be in direct conflict with the Law on Defence of BiH.

- The new proposal of the Criminal Code of the RS deals with the defence capability of the RS and forms of its endangerment. The Criminal Code of the F BiH also contains a similar formulation (Article 155).

Regardless of the formulations, both criminal codes are in direct conflict with the Law on Defence of BiH, which in Article 2 states: „The Armed Forces are the professional, sole military force organised and controlled by Bosnia and Herzegovina.“

In Article 82 of the Law on Defence, paragraph 3 states: „Entity laws and by-laws shall be harmonised with the provisions of this law within six months from the date of entry into force of this law.“

Therefore, entities do not have the legal possibility to regulate military matters in their criminal codes. This is the exclusive competence of the state prescribed by the Law on Defence. All laws, including the criminal codes of both the RS and the F BiH, had to be harmonised with the Law on Defence of BiH, which entered into force on 5 October 2005, says Ahatović for Patria.