Details from the ECtHR courtroom: OHR lawyer's 'threats' of war, strange arguments from the BiH delegation, and the hypocrisy of the Croatian agent

(Patria) - The hearing before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg in the case "Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina" largely resembled the political reality of BiH.

The joint action of the OHR, the BiH Serb-Croat political bloc, and the Croatian Government in terms of maintaining the existing system, based in practice on ethnic representation, continued in the ECtHR courtroom, writes Istraga.ba.

The formal BiH delegation, and in practice the delegation of the BiH Serb-Croat political bloc that has taken over the country's most important institutions, the representative of the High Representative Christian Schmidt, and the agent of the Croatian Government spent an hour and a half trying to convince the judges of the Grand Chamber that Slaven Kovačević is the biggest problem in BiH, and that his application to the Court is intended to start a new war in BiH.

It was a perfect synchronization of the actions of the three involved parties. While the BiH agent Monika Mijić spent time trying to prove that Slaven Kovačević is a Croat, and the Croatian agent Štefica Stažnik accused the applicant of having a political agenda with the Democratic Front to destroy the position of the constituent peoples, the OHR representative Timothy Otty "threatened" the judges with the "fragile and sensitive" situation in BiH that could lead to instability, mentioning the Russian aggression in Ukraine.

The three teams spent the least amount of time trying to prove that there is no discrimination based on ethnic privilege in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as that would be too difficult. Instead, they tried to prove that Kovačević as an individual is not discriminated against because he previously declared himself a Croat. When they tried, it turned out comical.

Agent Mijić stated at one point that Kovačević, as someone who does not declare himself a member of the constituent peoples, has an advantage/privilege compared to residents of Republika Srpska, because in the BiH Presidency, a Croat and a Bosniak are elected from FBiH, along with ten delegates in the state House of Peoples, while in RS, there is one Serb member of the Presidency and only five delegates.

It would be interesting to hear what the representatives of HDZ think about this argument, as it raises the question of whether Croats have the privilege of being able to vote for a Bosniak candidate in the Presidency? Or perhaps the privilege of being able to actively influence the election of ten delegates to the state House of Peoples. In other words, is HDZ trying to take away this privilege by insisting on the reform of the House of Peoples, where Croatian voters would narrowly elect five delegates?

On the other hand, agent Stažnik warned the Court that this is a political application, even though Croatia's insistence on participating in the process was done with the aim of achieving and preserving Zagreb's political influence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- We ask you to recognize this application for what it is. A tool to achieve specific political goals. It is about promoting a political agenda aimed at reconstructing the BiH constitutional framework to reduce or potentially eliminate the concept of constituent peoples in the electoral system - said Stažnik.

She also claimed that an agreement in BiH must be reached between the political forces within the country itself, not through the influence of external factors. At the same time, the Prime Minister of Croatia, whom Stažnik represents, boasted about interfering in the internal processes of BiH and that it is even little compared to what someone else would do.

Meanwhile, while the BiH agents were proving that Kovačević is a Croat and therefore his active voting right is not threatened, Stažnik claimed that Croats as a people are threatened in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, the greatest hypocrisy was shown by Christian Schmidt. Less than 24 hours after his lawyer threatened the judges with war in court to preserve the dominance of neighbors in BiH, the High Representative was saving state cultural institutions, which he would not have had to save if the dominance we are talking about did not exist.