Significant Verdict of the Republika Srpska Supreme Court: Bosniaks Are Not Usurpers of Their Own Property

(Patria) - After two years of legal battle, the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska has corrected an injustice against parties who, in the procedure of presenting immovable property in this entity, were declared usurpers solely on the basis of a statement from the legal representative.

In this way, a significant portion of Bosniak property in Republika Srpska was simply re-registered, with the entity of Republika Srpska being entered as the owner.

By a verdict of the Supreme Court dated December 4, 2023, in an administrative dispute following the lawsuit of Safet Ahmetović from Switzerland against the Administration for Geodetic and Property-Legal Affairs of Republika Srpska in Banja Luka, the lawsuit was accepted and the contested act was annulled, i.e., the earlier verdict of the District Court in East Sarajevo.

„This means a lot for all returnees in RS, because, while conducting this procedure, I noticed that without sufficient evidence and facts, RS is registered as the owner of certain property, and the parties are declared usurpers. This happens solely on the basis of a statement from the legal representative, which we have pointed out in various proceedings. I must say that there have been many appeals and lawsuits, and this battle of ours has lasted two years, and we are finally witnessing a positive decision of the Supreme Court of RS that has removed this irregularity,” said lawyer Emir Kovačević, who represented Ahmetović in the mentioned dispute, for the MINA Agency.

It is also significant to mention that the Supreme Court of RS concluded that the entry in the cadastral records that corresponds to the actual condition and the last possession of the immovable property in the presentation procedure has priority over the entry in the land registry records.

„In practice, it happened that if the commission, during the presentation of immovable property, found traces from the 1950s or 1960s that it was some kind of public property, those plots were immediately registered to RS without further determination of facts and without any procedure. In that sense, the party was declared a usurper of their own property, regardless of whether they had been using those properties and plots for many years, having inherited them from their ancestors,” Kovačević explained.

This is an opportunity that, following the example of the mentioned case, all other parties who have had usurpation determined in a similar manner, and RS registered as the owner of their immovable property, seek a repetition of the procedure, after which the factual situation will be determined.

„First, they should check what is written in their decisions. If they have been declared usurpers based on a statement from the legal representative, they have the right to refer to this verdict and request a reopening of the procedure, as well as a determination of the factual situation. Regardless of the fact that these are final decisions, the party has the right to request that the procedure be reopened, because they have learned of new circumstances that may affect their case being resolved differently,” said lawyer Kovačević.

A proposal for the repetition of the procedure is submitted to the competent authority that issued the first-instance decision within a subjective deadline of 30 days, while the objective deadline is five years.