Professor Ćazim Sadiković passed away - former Constitutional Court judge and member of the Venice Commission

(Patria) - Professor Ćazim Sadiković passed away this afternoon in Sarajevo after a long illness, it was announced by the Council of Bosniak Intellectuals, of which he was a member.

Ćazim Sadiković was born in 1935 in Ljubuški. He finished high school in Mostar and the Faculty of Law in Sarajevo.

He enrolled in postgraduate studies at the European University Centre in Nancy, France, where he obtained his Master's degree in Legal and Political Sciences on the topic "Contemporary Aspects of Democracy in Europe" under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Denis Levy. He defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Heli Modic.

Sadiković began his academic career at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo in 1961 and continued at the Faculty of Law of the University of Sarajevo as a professor and dean. He taught Introduction to Political Sciences, Introduction to Law, International Law, Human Rights, and Political Systems.

He also held a number of public positions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Europe. For seventeen years, he was a member of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, Democracy through Law. He was elected as an international arbitrator in the Brčko arbitration process in 1996, after which the Brčko District was formed.

He was elected Vice-President of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers based in Brussels in 1984.

He received the Charter of the Council of Bosniak Intellectuals in December 2019, the "Crystal Seal" in 2011 on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the Venice Commission's work, and the "Bronze Plaque" in 2008 for exceptional merits (Pro Merito) for his work in the "Democracy through Law" Commission – Venice Commission.

The book "Human Rights Without Protection" was declared book of the year in 1998.

He received the Silver Plaque of the City of Sarajevo for contributions to the improvement of the governance of the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1987), and the Plaque of the University of Sarajevo with a Charter for special merits in the work on the University of Sarajevo's programs (1986).

During his career, Ćazim Sadiković was also the President of the Commission for Constitutional Affairs (1974), a member of the Editorial Commission for the drafting of the Constitution of the SFRY in Brioni, and subsequently the Constitution of the SR BiH (1971), President of the Legal Council of the Assembly of the SR BiH, and a judge and president of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He is the author of eleven books and more than a hundred scientific and professional papers in the field of legal and political sciences. He has been a member of the Council of Bosniak Intellectuals since its founding, and he made an indelible mark on the work of the Council's Committee for Constitutional-Legal and Political Issues.