The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to operate seamlessly and at full capacity, with scheduled hearings taking place as planned, the judicial institution reported on March 17th.

“Some previously scheduled hearings have been canceled for objective procedural reasons,” stated the Court of BiH, emphasizing that “the scheduling and conducting of hearings will proceed in accordance with the established timeline in the upcoming period, as has been the norm thus far.”

On February 27, the RS Assembly passed a law that unjustly restricts the operations of four judicial and investigative bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina within that BiH entity.

This legislation affects the Court of BiH, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), and the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC).

Simultaneously, the RS government introduced legal measures to penalize employees from RS if they disregard the directives of the authorities of this BiH entity.

This initiative came a day after the Court of BiH sentenced Milorad Dodik to one year in prison and imposed a six-year ban on him holding the office of President of the RS for failing to respect the decisions of the High Representative.

Before the parliamentary session that enacted a law banning the operations of state institutions within the RS, Dodik declared that this BiH entity would “contest the activities of the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of BiH.”

In explaining the legal provisions passed by the Assembly, he mentioned that, upon enforcement, these laws will imply that “no one, while officially present in the RS, can act on behalf of the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of BiH.”

He further warned that individuals continuing to do so would face prosecution once the new law goes into effect.

News