CONSTITUTIONALITY REVIEW OF SCHMIDT-IMPOSED PROVISIONS IS “COMPLEX TASK”

SARAJEVO, JUNE 13 /SRNA/ – Reviewing the constitutionality of the Criminal Code of BiH provisions imposed by Christian Schmidt is a complex task for the incomplete Constitutional Court of BiH, which is why no decision has been issued even six months later, the Constitutional Court told SRNA.

The Court stated that the appeal for a constitutional review, submitted by the SNSD caucus in the Republika Srpska National Assembly, was registered under case number U-43/25 and that intensive work is being carried out on the case, but that the dynamic is affected by its complexity. “The requests for interim measures influence the process, which are mandatory procedural stages, including obtaining statements from the bodies that enacted the legislation /the legislative institutions of BiH, the entities, etc./, which in some cases results in a longer overall duration of the proceedings,” the Court said. In its response to SRNA, the Court noted that, in practice, cases concerning constitutional review are handled as a priority in the chronological order in which they are received. “There are currently eight constitutional review cases before the Constitutional Court of BiH that are chronologically older than the case referred to in this issue, all of which will be resolved in accordance with the established rules,” the incomplete Constitutional Court of BiH stated. In December of last year, the SNSD caucus in the Republika Srpska National Assembly submitted an appeal to the Constitutional Court of BiH seeking a review of the constitutionality of certain provisions of the BiH Criminal Code imposed by Christian Schmidt. Under the provisions of the BiH Criminal Code, failure to implement the decisions of the “high representative” led to the conviction of Republika Srpska President, Milorad Dodik. In its appeal, SNSD submitted a set of arguments regarding the amendments to the Criminal Code of BiH, asserting that Schmidt’s decision is contrary to the Constitution of BiH and that the high representative is not an institution provided for by the Constitution of BiH. Through this appeal, the SNSD caucus seeks, through clear legal arguments, to prompt the Constitutional Court of BiH to remove from the law the provisions stipulating that failure to implement the decisions of the High Representative constitutes a punishable legal norm in BiH.