RS losing the thread: State property confirms statehood, sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH

What is the essence of the problem in the refusal of the BiH entity RS to register prospective military property? Namely, by registering prospective military property, BiH fulfills the last condition from the MAP for starting the path to NATO accession. There are only two reasons: RS does not want the state of BiH to join NATO, which has been publicly stated on numerous occasions from this entity.

The second reason is almost never mentioned, and it concerns RS's refusal to accept constitutional and legal norms: Property in the entities is indisputably the ownership of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The entity RS refuses to accept this because it has falsely represented itself as a state for too long.

After the Constitutional Court of BiH rejected as unfounded the appeal of Republika Srpska against the decision of the Court of BiH to stop the registration of property, more precisely the decision that Veliki Žep in Han Pijesak is military property of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the traditional negative reactions arrived.    

The best explanation of the problems with registering state property was given by High Representative Valentin Inzko in May last year in a letter to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdić: „The state of BiH is the titleholder of all property that falls under the definition of 'state property' provided for in Article 1 of the Prohibition of Disposal of State Property as established in the Decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH of July 13, 2012.“

Inzko referred to the Decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH which accepted the appeal of Sulejman Tihić that Republika Srpska has no constitutional jurisdiction to regulate the legal matter that is the subject of the „Law on the Status of State Property on the Territory of RS“. This entire law, adopted by the National Assembly of RS, was challenged and annulled. The latest ruling of the Constitutional Court of BiH on Veliki Žep is essentially based on the earlier ruling following the appeal of Sulejman Tihić.

Namely, the property is owned by BiH and no one has the right to deny that. Republika Srpska does not behave as an ordinary entity within the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but falsely represents itself as a state, which is completely absurd in international law. 

The property of Veliki Žep in Han Pijesak, which is a territory of 11,747 square kilometers, has already been allocated by RS to the Public Enterprise „Šume Republike Srpske from Sokolac and M:tel from Banja Luka. The deletion of these companies was requested, and the registration of the state of BiH as the actual owner. 

More than a year ago, High Representative Valentin Inzko requested that adequate legislation be adopted at the state level to regulate the manner of disposing of state property.

Inzko warned at the time: „The state of Bosnia and Herzegovina must be enabled to effectively protect and exercise its ownership rights. After a part of state property is exempted from the prohibition of disposal, it can only be disposed of by the competent institutions representing the state of BiH as the legitimate titleholder and owner.“

But, despite all of Inzko's warnings, the Serbian side ignored the Constitution and laws and what is an obvious and normal legal solution. Precisely because of these requests of the High Representative, someone in the media rightly mentioned the possibility of using his Bonn powers.   

Both in Tihić's appeal and the response of the Constitutional Court of BiH, there is a 'testimony' of the High Representative that Annex II of the General Framework Agreement provides for territorial demarcation between the two entities, and not between the entities and the state, whereby the latter would be impossible. The demarcation between the two entities in no way affects the exercise of the jurisdiction of Bosnia and Herzegovina on its territory, nor the ability of BiH institutions to be owners of property located on the territory of any of the entities.“

It was repeated once again: Entities are only part of the internal structure of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the decision of the Venice Commission, the Agreement on Succession between the former Yugoslav republics, ownership of state property was transferred to the state of BiH. Therefore, the state of BiH continues its international legal subjectivity and is therefore the titleholder of all state property.

The decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH clearly states: Bosnia and Herzegovina is the titleholder of its property. Accordingly, state property reflects the statehood, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.“

Why are the courts in RS not doing their job?     

„The judiciary is a corrective for administrative decisions. It is above any administrative procedure because it decides on lawful conduct. Unfortunately, it is shown that the judiciary in RS, under political pressure, merely confirms administrative decisions“, Zikreta Ibrahimović, acting deputy of the BiH Attorney's Office, tells us.                     

The story from the RS side that one should approach the conclusion of some kind of agreements between RS and BiH is untenable. The use of property belongs exclusively to the state and cannot depend on any agreement between the entity and the state. More precisely, there are too many attempts to relativize the final judgment of the Constitutional Court, based on both the Constitution and international law and international conventions.   

„The decision of the Constitutional Court for Veliki Žep was delivered on August 4 to all parties in the proceedings. From the Office of the BiH Attorney's Office, requests were sent to the courts in RS dealing with this case, but the authorities in RS still claim they have not received any decision yet“, notes Ibrahimović. 

Regarding Veliki Žep and the issue of property registration, it is up to the District Court in East Sarajevo, which is territorially competent for the Veliki Žep case. That court should request from the Geodetic Administration of RS the registration of this property to the state of BiH. Zikreta Ibrahimović addressed the court in East Sarajevo on the same day after the ruling of the Constitutional Court of BiH.

The problem, unfortunately, is of a different kind. In the attempts of the Office of the BiH Attorney's Office in two cases of registration of prospective property in Doboj and Veliki Žep, the courts in RS immediately behave subserviently towards politics and decide along the line of least resistance. Any story about refusing to register property to the state of BiH is against the law and punishable.

Due to the failed role of Republika Srpska to present itself as a state, Bosnia and Herzegovina is losing precious time in Euro-Atlantic integrations. It is obvious that the entity created from the crime of the worst ethnic cleansing is trying in every way to prevent the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina from entering the integrations of the civilized world. Namely, it is clear that in those integrations, any segregation and mono-national formula of existence, such as RS is evidently pushing, would be unsustainable.     

In a letter sent at the end of July 2017 by the Office of the BiH Attorney's Office to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdić, it is stated that so far a request for registration of 41 locations has been recorded, of which 15 are on the territory of RS, and 26 on the territory of the Federation. Two cases were returned due to incomplete documentation. In the Federation, 20 locations were registered, while for five, registration was refused due to errors and minor ownership issues. Not a single one of the 15 locations in RS has been registered, nor can any indications of respect for the Constitution, laws, international law and conventions be observed there. 

It is clearly a boycott of the state of BiH, seen so many times in the dramatic roles of political, and unfortunately also judicial actors from Republika Srpska.