DODIK: BiH HAS NO CHANCE WITH THIS DEFECTIVE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

BANJA LUKA, NOVEMBER 4 /SRNA/ - President Milorad Dodik told SRNA that the defective Constitutional Court of BiH has violated elementary rights and made a political decision by rejecting the appeal of his legal team against the verdict of the Court of BiH, asserting that BiH has no chance with such a court.

Dodik said that the defective Constitutional Court of BiH is a political body and not a genuine constitutional court. "The defective Constitutional Court issues political rulings, because if it had upheld the Constitution, it would certainly have had to consider the provisions of that very Constitution, which state that laws in BiH can only be adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH - meaning the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples together," Dodik pointed out. He added that the defective Constitutional Court has breached this principle, along with a series of its own past decisions, which stated that all decisions of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches at the BiH level must not be contrary to the Constitutions of BiH, Republika Srpska, or the Federation of BiH. Dodik stressed that, by doing so, they violated elementary law, which he described as almost unbelievable. "Of course, we move on. We assume we can address the European Court, but when it comes to political matters, political issues are resolved in political ways," Dodik said in his statement to SRNA. Dodik reiterated that the defective Constitutional Court is a political court and that, because of its conduct, he believes BiH has no chance. "By force, attempting to impose political will under the guise of law, they are prolonging the era of those global scavengers who, in many places in Europe and worldwide, have tried to abuse judicial institutions to deal with their political opponents - from U.S. President Donald Trump, to Marine Le Pen, Romania, and many other cases," Dodik stated. He emphasized that there can be no minimal trust in BiH's institutions under such circumstances, pointing out that the Court neither established anything nor wanted to accept a single legal argument. "If they themselves said that court rulings must not contradict the constitutions of the entities - meaning Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH - then how can they ignore two facts concerning the Constitution of Republika Srpska?" Dodik asked. He explained that the first fact is that the president is obliged to sign a decree, and the second is that the president's mandate can only be terminated if he resigns or if a referendum is held. "Neither of these happened in this case - it was purely political will," Dodik noted. According to him, it was interesting in recent days to hear various informants from Sarajevo express concern that some other ruling might occur. "This pressure coming from Sarajevo shows they are exclusively motivated to rule against Serbs through an atmosphere being created in Sarajevo's back rooms," Dodik added. He emphasized that he is neither disappointed nor particularly affected, knowing what this is about and how it unfolds, but that, in any case, there is no longer any trust in BiH, nor in the Constitutional Court, nor can it be restored. "We thought that if this defective Constitutional Court showed even minimal elements of constitutionality and respect for the Constitution and laws, the two judges would be returned to the Court almost the same day. Now I think this chance is absolutely lost, and that it should not be done. Let them do their job," Dodik said. He added that this is similar to the case of the elder Vukašin from Klepci, who, when a Ustasha was cutting off his ears and nose, said, "You just do your job." "Let them do their job; we will do ours, and we will see where we meet," Dodik concluded. The defective Constitutional Court of BiH today rejected the appeal filed by the defense of President Milorad Dodik against the verdict of the Court of BiH, which sentenced him to one year in prison and a six-year ban from political activity for "failure to comply with the decisions of Christian Schmidt".