Dodik conditioned the appointment of two constitutional judges in the RS National Assembly on the elimination of foreign judges, but the BiH Constitutional Court was not blocked after all

(Patria) - Starting next week, the Constitutional Court of BiH will be left with one less judge, Zlatko M. Knežević. The National Assembly of Republika Srpska has no intention of appointing the two judges to be elected in this assembly. The mandate of Miodrag Simović expired in 2022, while Knežević opted for early retirement, although a judge can serve until the age of 70. Knežević is retiring at 63.

The stance of the Republika Srpska authorities, led by RS President Milorad Dodik, is well-known: there will be no appointment of judges until foreign judges are removed from the Constitutional Court of BiH. Dodik also presented this demand to his coalition partners at the state level, who for now are not agreeing to such a scenario, especially when there is an attack on BiH institutions, state property, and the rule of law is endangered.

“We no longer want to give legitimacy to such a thing. You will not get two legally elected judges through the National Assembly until the Law on the Constitutional Court is passed and foreigners are eliminated from the Constitutional Court,” Dodik recently told BHRT.

Due to the three judges who will be missing starting next week, the Constitutional Court of BiH cannot function in the Grand Chamber, and the work of the Small Chamber is also hindered. However, there are enough judges to hold plenary sessions. Three foreign judges remain in the Constitutional Court of BiH: Valerija Galić as President, and judges Seada Palavrić and Mirsad Ćeman.

Galić stated in an earlier interview for BHRT that it is not good that there will be no judge elected from the National Assembly of Republika Srpska in the Constitutional Court, but that the Constitutional Court cannot be allowed to be blocked and cease its work.

The appointment of one judge in the FBiH Parliament is pending because the HDZ's demand is that it must be exclusively Marin Vukoja, and not that a list of candidates be sent for voting.

The National Assembly of Republika Srpska adopted the Law on Non-application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH in the territory of Republika Srpska, which was annulled by the High Representative Christian Schmidt on July 1st this year.

On August 22, 2023, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH filed an indictment against the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik and the Director of the Official Gazette of RS Miloš Lukić for failing to apply and implement the decisions of the High Representative for BiH Christian Schmidt, thereby committing the criminal offense of "Failure to implement the decisions of the High Representative" under Article 203a, Paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code of BiH.

The indictment of the Prosecutor's Office states that Dodik issued a decree on the promulgation of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Publication of Laws and Other Regulations of RS and the Law on Non-application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which Schmidt had previously rendered invalid. On the other hand, the indictment states that Lukić, as the Director of the Official Gazette, signed the form and thus enabled the procedure for publishing the mentioned decrees.