STEVANDIĆ: ADEMOVIĆ'S REQUEST IS UNFOUNDED AND IS USED AS TOOL AGAINST SRPSKA

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 29 /SRNA/ - The Speaker of the Republika Srpska National Assembly Nenad Stevandić said the Constitutional Affairs Committee has adopted a response to the Constitutional Court of BiH regarding the request by Kemal Ademović, Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, for a review of the constitutionality of the Law on Inheritance and the Law on Non-Contentious Proceedings.

He said the request is unfounded and is the prelude to a series of appeals being used to further undermine Srpska. Stevandić said Ademović believes these laws allow the unlawful automatic transfer of property without heirs to Republika Srpska. "It is common knowledge that the property of someone who has no heirs must be regulated by the competent authority, in this case that of Republika Srpska. If heirs appear one day, they can claim their property," Stevandić said at a press conference in Banja Luka after the Committee session. He believes Ademović's request is the prelude to a series of appeals to the Constitutional Court of BiH because, as he put it, this is the tool being used to further undermine Republika Srpska. "The subject here is property in matters of inheritance. The Law on Inheritance does not deal with whether someone was a victim of a war crime, or whether they belong to the Serb, Bosniak or any other people, so this entire appeal is a rather big manipulation," Stevandić said. He added that this appeal is also an attempt to resolve the general issue of property, stressing that Republika Srpska does not accept that this issue be resolved in any way other than how it has been handled so far. "Our Constitutional Affairs Committee wrote in its response that this is a lawful, legitimate and constitutional arrangement within Republika Srpska's original competences in civil and inheritance law, as is the case in all European countries," Stevandić said. He said the Law applies equally to all citizens of Republika Srpska, with the aim of preventing a legal vacuum and the economic stagnation and devastation of property, adding that it is fully in line with the Constitution of BiH. Stevandić said that the Constitutional Court of BiH, if it acted in accordance with the law, should reject Ademović's request. He added that the Committee also adopted a response to the Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska regarding an initiative by Bojan Popović from Teslić to launch a review of the constitutionality of an article of the Law on Foreign Exchange Operations, and proposed that the Constitutional Court not accept the initiative.