Legal experts explain why the referendum in RS cannot abolish the BiH Prosecutor's Office and Court

Legal experts gathered around the Association „Friends of BH“ explain that if a referendum in the Republika Srpska is held, and if some decisions are made at that referendum about non-compliance with the decisions of the Court of BiH, they cannot in the least jeopardize the legal effect of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, reports the news agency Patria.

From the Association „Friends of BH“ they remind that citizens of the Republika Srpska, as well as the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska, cannot decide on the Prosecutor's Office and the Court of BiH, but only the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH can decide on these institutions.

In the statement sent to the media from this Association, it is stated that the President of the Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik nor any citizen of BiH can avoid the decision of the Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH, regardless of the referendum.

It is true, remind the legal experts from the Association "Friends of BH" that the High Representative for BiH imposed the institution of the Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH, but these institutions were later recognized and adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, in which delegates from the Republika Srpska sat and still sit.

- According to the Constitution of BiH, at the state level, as a constitutional category, only the Constitutional Court of BiH exists. Of other judicial institutions, there is the Court of BiH and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.

The Court of BiH as a regular court was established by the Law on the Court of BiH, which was imposed in 2000 by the High Representative for BiH. That law was adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and amended several times, and afterwards published in the Official Gazette of BiH.

In the Constitution of BiH, there is also not a single word about the prosecutor's office, just as there is none about the regular court. However, like the Court of BiH, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH is founded on a law that was also imposed by the High Representative for BiH, which was later adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH – remind from the Association.

The Constitutional Court of BiH holds the position that the powers of the High Representative for BiH derive from the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the Bonn Declaration, and therefore must be respected by everyone in BiH.

In the specific case, during the adoption of the laws on the Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH, the High Representative for BiH had the authority to adopt the mentioned law, thereby intervening in the legal system of BiH, and the laws adopted by the High Representative for BiH are of the nature of domestic legislation and must be considered laws of BiH.

From all this, it follows, conclude from the Association, that the High Representative for BiH had the authority to adopt the mentioned laws, that these were confirmed and amended by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, and in the confirmation and amendment of these laws, delegates from the area of the Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH also participated, reports NAP.