Who will face criminal liability for failing to implement more than 90 decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH

As many as 91 decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH have not been implemented. These are decisions concerning various levels of government and various issues - from political to personal, where an individual has sued one of the institutions in pursuit of their rights.

The latest, regarding January 9 as the unconstitutional Day of the smaller BiH entity, which the National Assembly of the RS decided to "verify with citizens through a referendum," has brought the issue of criminal liability of those legally obliged to implement them to the forefront, writes the Patria news agency.

The Prosecutor's Office of BiH issued a press release today, stating that this institution "has not received from the Constitutional Court of BiH a ruling establishing the non-implementation of the Constitutional Court's decision, nor the identification of individuals who are not implementing the decision."

- The decision was made on November 26, 2015, and the 6-month deadline expired on May 26 this year. From May 26 until today, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH has not received a ruling from the Constitutional Court establishing the non-implementation of the decision.

The acting prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH sent an act to the Constitutional Court requesting a statement from the Constitutional Court regarding the aforementioned, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH stated.

From this response of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, it can be read between the lines that an investigation will be launched regarding the non-implementation of the decision on the unconstitutionality of the RS Day, January 9, once they receive the ruling of the Constitutional Court of BiH on the non-implementation of the decision.

Now, however, the question arises: what about the remaining 91 decisions for which the competent courts have received rulings on non-implementation? There are no investigations, no criminal prosecutions, no sanctions against responsible officials.

As early as 2001, the Constitutional Court of BiH confirmed the judgment of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH and decided that the constitutional name for the administrative unit is canton and that it is governed by a president. The same decision declared the names županija and governor, which have been continuously used for 15 years by cantons with a Croatian majority, unconstitutional.

Nevertheless, these names are still in everyday use today. Not only in public appearances of politicians, but also on official documents, on institution nameplates...

The decision on non-implementation was long ago forwarded to the competent addresses. Fifteen years later, no one has been held criminally liable, and the term županija has already "become ingrained" in the common person's ear. For the use of the term županija, several prime ministers of all cantons where it is used, up to the member of the Presidency of BiH Dragan Čović, should have been held accountable by now.

Due to the non-implementation of the judgment of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH in Mostar, there have been no elections for eight years. Here too, the decision on non-implementation has been forwarded, but no one is being held criminally liable.

The Government of Sarajevo Canton has been failing to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH on returning competencies to municipalities for years. All urgings are in vain, as the Canton refuses to relinquish its competencies, more than 30 of them.

Deputies at all levels of government are protected by immunity. However, immunity does not protect the Council of Ministers, entity governments, cantonal and municipal governments, nor lower courts, not just the Court or the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.

In the chain of non-implementation of decisions of the highest judicial instance in the country, the judiciary is tasked with criminal prosecution. However, the question of the responsibility of the state, i.e., its levers of power, also arises.

The Council of Ministers must first have a plan for implementing the decisions of the Constitutional Court, and then the Parliament, as the legislative authority, must monitor the progress of (non-)implementation.

This should be a continuous activity of both the executive and legislative authorities, because anyone from a municipal mayor to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers or a member of the Presidency of BiH could find themselves under investigation and criminal prosecution.

Rule of law

Until 2014, one of the main conditions for BiH's European integration was the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which were rendered precisely based on appeals from our country due to the non-implementation of decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH.

Two years ago, the EU placed the implementation of socio-economic reforms at the top of the list, so the issue of non-implementation of decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH, i.e., judgments from Strasbourg, fell into the background. However, this cannot be an excuse for non-implementation, because on the path to the EU, one of the chapters to be negotiated, and before that, to answer thousands of questions, is precisely the rule of law and the alignment of domestic legislation with European legislation, where the non-implementation of decisions of the Constitutional Court is absurd.