SDA Club in HoR FBiH: Last night we preserved democracy, legal certainty, constitutional order, and the rule of law in BiH

(Patria) - In the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament, SDA representatives, along with colleagues from opposition clubs, preserved democracy, legal certainty, the constitutional order, and the rule of law in BiH, stated today at a press conference by SDA Club representative in this house Almedin Aliefendić.

- Last night, we witnessed an attempt to violate the Rules of Procedure, and by extension, the Constitution of the FBiH, when the ruling majority, based on a forged document and plagiarism, attempted to elect the Election and Appointment Committee. That committee was tasked with electing a judge to the Constitutional Court of BiH.

Therefore, a committee that would be illegal and elected based on falsified documents was supposed to elect someone who would safeguard the legal certainty and constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

That attempt was made last night at midnight. Those with ill intentions naturally try to wait for a convenient moment to carry out such legal violence, the collapse of the legal system and the rule of law in BiH, and we prevented them from doing so - said Aliefendić.

He emphasized that the obstruction by the ruling majority has been ongoing for seven months, and during that period, only three regular sessions were held, one of which was yesterday, and only one draft law was adopted at the previous two.

- And those who are blocking processes accuse us of obstruction. SDA has only one member out of 11 in the Election and Appointment Committee, which is actually contrary to the provisions of the Rules of Procedure, as the number of committee members should be proportional to the number of representatives.

We have 26 representatives and one committee member, while on the other hand, HDZ BiH, with 15 representatives, has three members. The question here is who is blocking and whether we, with one out of 11 members, can block any process in the Election and Appointment Committee - Aliefendić asked.

He reminds that in the previous term, HDZ representative Mladen Bošković was the president of the Election and Appointment Committee, which was supposed to complete the procedure for appointing a judge to the Constitutional Court of BiH.

- The question for him is precisely why that procedure was not completed, whether they were waiting for a convenient moment, or rather, convenient partners from the Trojka (Three) who would support the wishes of HDZ BiH - Aliefendić points out.

Journalists asked him to comment on the Decree on the promulgation of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Publication of Laws and Other Regulations of Republika Srpska, which was signed today by the President of RS, Milorad Dodik. Aliefendić emphasizes that the Prosecutor's Office of BiH should have reacted long ago.

- We have a problem with the functioning of the legal system, and due to the Prosecutor's Office's inaction, we have reached a point where we have this kind of Dodik's arrogance. And we truly expect reactions, both from the Prosecutor's Office and from all other bodies that will stop the legal violence that Dodik and the entire leadership of SNSD are perpetrating, as well as the partners who support them in this - added Aliefendić.

SDA representative Nezir Pivić reminds that High Representative Christian Schmidt has suspended the further procedure of all laws adopted in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. Formally and legally speaking, Pivić adds, such laws no longer exist.

- What Dodik is doing in this regard is exclusively a job for the Chief Prosecutor. And we have seen that so far he has maximally found ways not to prosecute Dodik and all those who attacked the constitutional order - added Pivić.

He assessed it as important that after Schmidt's imposition of amendments to the Criminal Code of BiH, prosecutors can no longer find arguments that the use of force is necessary for the criminal offense of attacking the constitutional order.

Pivić says he could not believe that what the representatives witnessed last night – anarchy – could happen in the FBiH Parliament.

- Anarchy is the worst state that can befall a society, and that is to completely trample underfoot all the regulations based on which you are supposed to act and proceed.

The ruling majority last night at midnight intended to complete the procedure for appointing a judge to the Constitutional Court of BiH according to the wishes of HDZ BiH leader Dragan Čović, as they had probably promised him at the last meeting in Konjic. Such actions were orchestrated by HDZ BiH, and the executors were representatives of the Trojka parties - Pivić emphasizes.

Answering the question of the Patria News Agency about the ways to stop new convocations of extraordinary sessions and new attacks on parliamentary procedures, Pivić says that the transparency of the work of the imposed FBiH Government is generally questionable.

- From the Government, you do not know which amendments were adopted to the set of energy laws. We, and even their representatives, receive the material 20 minutes before the vote itself. We are legalists, we will use all mechanisms. We have, first and foremost, procedural mechanisms to protect the constitutional order, because violating the Rules of Procedure is a constitutional category.

The Constitutional Court itself discusses violations of the Rules of Procedure in its rulings, and that is not a small matter. We will use the provisions of other laws, including the Criminal Code itself. If someone uses a seal, a signature, abuse of office... For much smaller things, some have been held accountable, we have final judgments from the perspective of criminal liability. We will not hesitate to inform the Prosecutor's Office to do its job - Pivić concluded.