Bećirović wrote to Schmidt and ambassadors: Do not repeat the mistake from the 1990s

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Vice President of the SDP BiH and delegate in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH Denis Bećirović sent an open letter regarding the anti-Dayton and anti-constitutional initiation of the transfer of competences from the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the BiH entity of the RS. 

The letter was addressed to: the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian Schmidt, the Head of the EU Delegation and Special Representative of the EU in Bosnia and Herzegovina Johann Sattler, the US Ambassador Eric Nelson, the Ambassador of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Matthew Field, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany Margret Uebber, the Ambassador of the Republic of France Christine Toudic.

Your Excellencies,
As one of the representatives of the highest legislative authority in the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, I wish to present to you the legal and other facts regarding the issue of the transfer of competences within the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I believe it is high time to provide a reasoned response to the frequent frauds, untruths and falsifications that Milorad Dodik and his organized anti-Dayton group serve up almost daily. In essence, their false thesis is: a large part of the competences of the BiH entity of the RS was forcibly transferred to the state level of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this regard, at the beginning of this address, I am obliged to state two fundamental facts about the post-Dayton and pre-Dayton transfer of competences:

1. POST-DAYTON TRANSFER OF COMPETENCES.

No competence was transferred to the level of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the post-Dayton period by force, but rather through democratic and legal means in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the Dayton Peace Agreement, the Constitution of BiH and
the rules of procedure of the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. All competences of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina were voted for by deputies and delegates in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH from all constituent peoples and both BiH entities. That this is the complete truth is confirmed, among other things, by the minutes and transcripts of those sessions.

2. PRE-DAYTON TRANSFER OF COMPETENCES.

The majority of competences of the internationally recognized state of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a full member of the United Nations, were taken away as a result of the multi-year application of brutal force without any democratic or legal procedure. Final
judgments of the United Nations courts have established that before the removal of competences of the state of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the following were committed: joint criminal enterprises, genocide against Bosniaks, crimes against humanity and other war crimes, including extermination, deportation, forcible transfer, rape and other inhumane acts, serious violations of the Geneva Conventions, persecution on political, racial and religious grounds, violations of the laws and customs of war, unlawful detention and terrorizing of civilians, extensive destruction of property, seizure and looting of property...

The aforementioned legal facts, described in detail in the final judgments of the United Nations courts, clearly prove that the only seizure of competences was the one carried out by force in the internationally recognized state of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These are irrefutable facts, not Dodik's bait-and-switch. Therefore, I publicly call on you, gentlemen ambassadors, to also inform relevant international actors about these facts.

Esteemed Excellencies,

In contrast to Dodik's utterly unfounded separatist and anti-Dayton actions, I wish to draw your attention to the arguments that support the return of the forcibly seized competences of the internationally recognized state of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The restoration of the competences of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina would ensure, among other things, that our state becomes a true democratic, legal, European, social, secular and civic state, based on the rule of law, individual freedoms and equality, ethnic, religious and gender equality, and social justice. The return of the competences of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina would enable legal and effective protection of human rights, including the return of all refugees and displaced persons to their places of origin, as well as efficient and functional legislative, executive and judicial authority. Therefore, it is the legal and legitimate right of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to demand, in the coming period, the return of the forcibly seized competences of the internationally recognized state of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Your Excellencies,

I call on you to inform the entire international public also about the following six (6) facts:
1. The state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to Article I/1, sentence 1, of the Constitution of BiH, is not a new creation from the aspect of international law. It, as a state, continued the existence of the international legal subject of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the same state that, as the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was internationally recognized after the dissolution of the SFRY and which became a full member of the United Nations in 1992.

2. In the event of a unilateral destruction of the Dayton Peace Agreement, the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina inevitably returns to the previous legal constitutional order of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the other hand, the smaller BiH entity of the RS cannot survive outside the framework of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its alternative is to become an illegal and rogue para-creation. True, the current position of the BiH entity of the RS is significantly different because now there are final judgments of the highest United Nations courts that the political and military structures of this entity organized and committed the only genocide in Europe after the Second World War.

3. The Constitution of BiH, as Annex 4 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a constitutional act which, by way of amendment, replaced and put out of force the Constitution of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article XII/1 of the Constitution of BiH) and which entered into force at the moment of signing the General Framework Agreement for Peace. If Dodik and his organized anti-Dayton group destroy this international agreement, this amendment to the text of the Constitution of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is automatically repealed.

4. The Assembly of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina accepted the Dayton Peace Agreement only on the condition that it be implemented in a consistent manner; otherwise, the Constitution of BiH should be declared invalid and the survival of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina under its internationally recognized name and status should be ensured.

5. The current Constitution of BiH has a number of serious elements that support the thesis that it was created under the threat of use of force (Article 52 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties) and in violation of ius cogens (Article 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties). Bearing this in mind, it is absolutely unacceptable for Dodik and his organized anti-Dayton group to again threaten force and carry out legal violence.

6. The European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), at the request submitted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2005, precisely established that „the state level is not in a position to effectively ensure respect for the country's obligations towards the Council of Europe and the international community in general.“ The Venice Commission simultaneously states that „an indispensable revision of the state Constitution is necessary to strengthen the competences of the state.“ A particular obstacle is represented by „the veto based on vital interest in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, the bicameral system and the collective Presidency of BiH on an ethnic basis. The combined effect of these provisions makes effective government extremely difficult, if not impossible.“

Gentlemen Ambassadors,

An open attack on the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina is underway. The names and surnames of the persons involved in the serious criminal act of destroying the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina are known. Help the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina to become capable in every respect for effective defense because that is its inalienable right in accordance with domestic and international law. Do not repeat the mistake from the 1990s when the policy of immoral equating of executioners and victims encouraged the protagonists of the genocidal policy.