Undermining the Rule of Law

By Larisa Velić and Senadin Lavić

For three decades, we have been exposed to various actions aimed at derogating the rule of law from the daily functioning of institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The latest developments show that instead of the principle of legality of institutional action, we are now introducing the model of “ethnic representation,” which justifies various disloyal and illegal actions. Through rhetorical methods, i.e., various types of “interpretive” deceptions or arbitrary interpretations of laws, an attempt is being made to inaugurate the primacy of the ethnic principle in the functioning of the entire social system, thereby creating an ethnocratic political system that completely deviates from modern democracy.

For years, there has been tension between “reason” and “political concepts,” which we observe through the anti-state activities of high-ranking politicians, reflected in the denial of the state and its institutions, the adoption of unconstitutional laws, the non-compliance with court decisions, the intentional misinterpretation of legal provisions, the adaptation of laws and legal norms to ethnic interests, and the violation of laws, etc. The question is why the state institutions, which are supposed to protect the constitutional order of the state, do not react to open unconstitutional actions and denial of the state?

An adequate reaction from the competent institutions has been lacking, and this has been a signal to go further, to test the limits, which, it seems, are very flexible here. Even after the Law on Non-Enforcement of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH was passed in the BiH entity of Republika Srpska, after decisions on non-acceptance of decisions by the Prosecutor's Office and the Court of BiH were announced, and the strengthening of inter-entity borders, sanctions were absent. What we refer to as “reason,” considering world standards, is not respected here and no longer exists, because in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a “perverse” reason is being imposed, which is now losing acceptable frameworks of normality. The denial of genocide and the glorification of war criminals, the trivialization of the war events in Srebrenica, the incitement of hatred, and the call for non-compliance and non-enforcement of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH as their direct violation are on the scene. It seems that bullying behavior is met with respect and restraint, and it could be said, fear of taking concrete actions to stop and sanction such behavior.

At the center of all these events is, of course, state property, which represents the expression of statehood, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of a country. In his recent address, Dodik stated, “if they take our property, we will be nothing,” and the implication of the aforementioned is self-rule, which should lead to the state itself becoming that “nothing.” Citizens, already quite instructed, remain trapped in imposed political views, the benefit of which they dare not question, and support the myth of the appropriation of property belonging to the Republika Srpska entity. Nowhere in the entity's “interpretation” is the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina mentioned.

The work of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, which is solely responsible for adopting the law on state property, has been obstructed all these years, so that in the end, the state would be disinherited, uprooted, i.e., dematerialized, and become an empty shell. State property, regardless of the Law on Prohibition of Disposal of State Property and the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH, is already being registered to the RS entity, and numerous laws have been passed at the entity level much earlier that de facto grant ownership powers to the entities.

But it is not only about state property! This year alone, we have witnessed the following: the marking of January 9th in Istočno Sarajevo, where 2,500 members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RS entity participated in a parade with weapons right above Sarajevo, although the Constitutional Court of BiH determined that the marking of that date is not in accordance with the Constitution of BiH; immediately after that, the RS Assembly adopted the Law on Immovable Property of the RS, by which they unlawfully convert state property into RS property; now they are adopting the Law on Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court in the territory of RS, and they are also announcing the adoption of a law that will prevent the enforcement of decisions of the Court of BiH, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, and SIPA in the territory of that entity.

Dictatorial arbitrariness seems to be striving towards the abolition of the foundations of the democratic system by initiating the abolition of the judicial power as one of the three pillars of government. If this continues, we will no longer be able to talk about the rule of law. There is no more room or time for any calculations; the citizens of this country expect final action from the competent institutions to, in accordance with their powers, carry out the necessary interventions to enable the full implementation of the BiH Constitution and stop further secessionist actions.

*Larisa Velić is the Dean of the Faculty of Law in Zenica and the President of the Senate of the University of Zenica. She spent most of her career in Germany, where she graduated from the Faculty of Law, passed the bar exam, obtained her doctorate, and worked as a lawyer before returning to BiH.

*Senadin Lavić is a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo. He is the author of scientific and professional books and papers in the country and abroad. He is a member of the Association of Independent Intellectuals Krug 99.