Krišto in politicking or has amnesia regarding amendments to the OSA BiH Law

(Patria) - The Center for Security Studies warns that Borjana Krišto, on December 7, 2016, then as the second deputy chairperson of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, submitted a request to the Constitutional Court of BiH for a review of the constitutionality of the provisions of Article 78, paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of the Law on the Intelligence-Security Agency of BiH.

"In the explanation of her request, she cited the inconsistency of the mentioned articles with certain provisions of the Constitution of BiH and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR).

It is interesting that, in her capacity as Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH (CoM BiH) and the person chairing the Executive-Intelligence Committee, an advisory body to the Chairperson of the CoM BiH, she has not expressed any interest, through a single statement or measure, in amending the Law on OSA BiH, which she so ardently advocated during her parliamentary term. It is important to note that in her capacity as Chairperson of the CoM BiH, in accordance with the Law on OSA BiH, she is, among other things, responsible for supervising the work of OSA BiH and ensuring the legality of its operations.

As a reminder, acting on the aforementioned appeal, the judges in the plenary session of the Constitutional Court of BiH, at a session held on June 1, 2017, issued a Decision on Admissibility and Merits, which adopts the request related to Article 78, paragraphs 3, 4, and 5 of the Law on OSA BiH. By the same Decision, the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH is ordered to, in accordance with Article 61, paragraph 4 of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of BiH, harmonize the mentioned articles of the Law on OSA BiH with the Constitution of BiH and the ECHR no later than 6 months from the day of delivery of the decision, and to inform the Constitutional Court of BiH of the measures taken with the aim of executing this decision.

Without delving into the reasons why the state parliament, even after almost 7 years, has not fulfilled its obligation under the aforementioned decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH, it is intriguing that Chairperson Krišto, as a legal expert, has not initiated measures from her position to amend the Law on OSA BiH.

The Constitutional Court of BiH, fortunately, did not invalidate the mentioned provisions of the Law, although it hinted at this in its decision. This could consequently cause the undermining of security and the protection of the constitutional order, by declaring unconstitutional all activities of OSA BiH related to the collection of secret data lasting longer than 60 days, as well as the approval of secret data collection measures by the General Director of OSA BiH from the Chairperson of the CoM BiH, if the delay could cause irreparable damage to the security of BiH.

Bearing in mind the above, we hope that all interested parties in the executive, legislative and judicial authorities will urgently initiate procedures and processes within their competence in order to avoid further jeopardizing the rule of law in BiH, and to ensure for citizens an environment and protection of their interests in accordance with the constitutional order and international standards," states the CSS.