Božo Ljubić Accuses Valentin Inzko of Violating Croatian Rights

MOSTAR, (Patria) - The President of the Main Council of the Croatian National Assembly of BiH, Božo Ljubić, accused the High Representative in BiH, Valentin Inzko, of inciting violations of the BiH Constitution.

Speaking about the rulings of the Constitutional Court, Inzko earlier told Federal TV that he was bothered by the fact that some Croats advocate for respecting the Constitutional Court's decision in the "Ljubić" case, which he said is fine, but at the same time, he recalled, the same people do not want to respect the Constitutional Court's decision that Serbs are a constituent people in the Herzegovina-Neretva or West Herzegovina Canton.

"Aleksa Šantić would not be recognized in Mostar, because there are no Serbs there, they are not in the Constitution," he said.

The Constitutional Court of BiH previously struck down part of the provisions of the BiH Election Law concerning the election of delegates to the House of Peoples of the FBiH. The HDZ BiH wants to amend the Election Law so that Croats, Bosniaks, and Serbs are elected to the House of Peoples only from those cantons where they are a majority, while they would not be elected from cantons where they are a minority. Such a proposal by the HDZ BiH was assessed as an attempt at new ethnic divisions in the country, which is contrary to European practice. Also, the HDZ BiH demands that the new BiH Election Law be based on the 2013 BiH population census and that the 1991 census be disregarded. Opposition parties point out that this would mean legalizing ethnic cleansing in BiH from the 1990s, as well as violating the Dayton Agreement, which stipulates that the 1991 census remains in effect until people return to their pre-war homes.

Ljubić, however, points out that the Constitutional Court, with its decision in the Ljubić case, declared unconstitutional and later deleted from the Election Law the provision by which each canton gives one delegate from each constituent people. Ljubić added that the application of the '91 census for legislative bodies according to the provisions of the FBiH Constitution and the Election Law is not possible, and he notes that the Constitutional Court also calls for the application of the latest census (2013) in its decisions.

"Perhaps the OHR and Inzko are only unreasonably consistent in violating the rights of Croats, because their previous 'solutions' have been declared discriminatory and unconstitutional by the BiH Constitutional Court regarding the election of delegates to the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, as well as in the case of the city of Mostar, so it is obvious that such a policy is difficult to change," said Ljubić.

Inzko criticized the HDZ BiH, stating: "If you want one decision to be respected, you must respect other decisions as well, especially those that are older, as well as the rulings of international human rights courts."

The authorities in BiH have to date failed to comply with more than 90 rulings of the BiH Constitutional Court, as well as some rulings of international courts.

The embassies of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the OHR, and the OSCE sent an open letter on May 30 criticizing the HDZ BiH and SNSD for not wanting to support amendments to the BiH Criminal Procedure Code, after which they were accused by the HDZ of destabilizing BiH.

University professor Slavo Kukić believes that "the HDZ and /Dragan/ Čović have shown that they are ready to drag Croats into a conflict with the entire world."