People and Justice: Parade of police forces on unconstitutional January 9th reminiscent of wartime horrors

(Patria) - The marking of January 9th in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of Republika Srpska is an undeniably unconstitutional act about which the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the highest judicial instance in our country, has said everything, states the reaction of People and Justice.

The Constitutional Court of BiH has clearly defined its stance on January 9th as the Day of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of RS, which is binding for all actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the reaction of People and Justice.

“By insisting on January 9th, Bosniaks, Croats, and many other citizens in this entity are absolutely excluded. It is important to emphasize here that the Constitutional Court, which we remind you is precisely a Dayton category and whose authority has been accepted by all signatory parties to the Dayton Peace Agreement, has also used such reasoning as to why January 9th is inappropriate. Political leaders are obliged to respect the Dayton Peace Agreement as well as the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH, and the competent institutions, in this case, the High Representative and the BiH Prosecutor's Office, have full responsibility in this regard. For many citizens of the BiH entity of RS, as well as for the majority of BiH citizens, January 9th symbolizes the beginning of aggression and crimes, and as such, cannot be acceptable in any way,” the reaction of People and Justice states.

The parade of police forces sends the same message as in all previous years, regardless of where it is held, according to People and Justice.

“Such public parades send messages that most citizens perceive as threats, while simultaneously reminding them of the horrors they experienced during the war years. With such moves, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of RS itself is moving towards international isolation because the absolute majority of countries and international organizations reject not only January 9th but also the way the commemoration is organized. It is completely irrelevant in which city the parade is organized because the message is always the same,” the reaction of People and Justice states.

Building the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the best response to this type of behavior that we have witnessed for over a decade.

“We need a calm, wise, and long-term effective reaction. The best example is certainly the policies and strategies from the period when work was being done on building the Armed Forces of BiH. The formation of the Armed Forces of BiH and the abolition of entity armies inevitably made such parades and policies less dangerous, and today we cannot even imagine what would happen if entity armies had survived. A policy of wisdom, compromise, patient and persistent institution building, while respecting all the specificities of our country, is a sure path that will permanently defeat such destructive policies. Policies of conflict, populism, and empty threats, while simultaneously undermining institutions, have shown in recent years to have brought nothing good to the state or to the people,” the statement concludes.