Byzantine Blog

Lajcak’s Decision Unacceptable to Republika Srpska

Premier of the Serbian republic in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Republika Srpska) Milorad Dodik said that Serbian Republic’s leaders will not accept the latest decision imposed by the Bosnia High Representative Miroslav Lajcak, at the price of sanctioning the Serbian entity in Bosnia.

“Simply put, this is not a residence of a bunch of obedience-trainees and blind followers of the international community, even if United States is that International Community,” Dodik said in the RS TV interview. He was responding to the statement by the American ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina Charles English in which he called Republika Srpska leaders to accept Lajcak’s measures, or suffer the wrath of U.S.

Prime Minister Dodik said that RS leaders “cannot accept the violation of the Dayton Agreement and the Constitution” and therefore will not give up their position.

Revealing to the public that he has been holding intense talks with Ambassador English for the past few days, Dodik said he can “hardly believe ambassador would show such contempt for their discussions in this manner,” i.e. issuing a public demand for compliance followed by the threats in case Bosnian Serbs fail to obey Lajcak’s dictate.

American Ambassador’s Threats to Bosnian Serbs Unheard of in the Past Decade

Premier Dodik said that RS leadership has not caused any conflict, nor has it done anything contrary to the democratic practice. “Republika Srpska people must know that this generation of politicians is only striving to govern responsibly and that is why we cannot accept such arrogant trampling of the Constitution and Dayton Accord. Especially unacceptable are rude threats coming from the American ambassador, regardless of the fact that he is American ambassador,” said Dodik.

American Ambassador in Bosnia Charles English invited Serbian republic’s Premier and RS representatives to accept Lajcak’s measures “as they are.” “Conflict with the High Representative is the conflict with USA. The safety and stability of Bosnia-Herzegovina is in the interest of United States and we are prepared to defend it,” said English in an interview to Bosnian news agencies.

He warned that “if the path of the conflict continues, the reaction of United States will be swift and powerful.”

Premier Dodik responded that “there will be no withdrawal and that RS government will not back down,” adding that the entity leadership has been trying to establish a dialog with the High Representative Lajcak during the past few days.

Regarding the American Ambassador’s statement, Dodik said that “such a boorish threat hasn’t been heard around here in the past ten years.”

“They are insinuating, weaving stories about the non-existent conspiracies, they are trying to deny our right to think for ourselves, because they believe that sheer pressure will help them resolve some issues, including this one,” said Dodik.

Pointing out that he respects the United States, though it is “not his fault that a number of issues in the world are not going their way,” Dodik said that Republika Srpska officials are defending their basic right to a democratic choice.

Stressing that “not a single window has been broken in Republika Srpska,” he said that RS has the right to democracy, which includes a right to opposition. He said that his party, the Association of the Independent Social-Democrats (SNSD), will step over into the opposition on the state level (of Bosnia-Herzegovina state) in case they fail to persuade the international representatives to change their attitude.

Lawyers Associations: Lajcak Grossly Violates Both Bosnian and RS Constitution, Along with the Score of International Laws

High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina Miroslav Lajcak is in gross violation of the BiH Constitution and the Constitution of Republika Srpska with his decision on the changes and amendments to the law on the BiH Council of Ministers and the binding directive for changing the regulations on the work of the Parliamentary Assembly, lawyers’ associations of Serbia and the Republika Srpska announced on Friday.

In a joint statement issued by the Serbia and RS lawyers associations, Lajcak’s decision is additionally characterized as the violation of a whole score of the highest normative acts of the United Nations and other international organizations which, according to the Bosnian Constitution, have the precedence over all the other legal acts.

“High Representative’s authority to interpret the existing laws does not include the power to supersede the Constitution and legislative bodies. At the same time, his decisions must not violate the human rights, individual and collective rights, as determined by the international legal acts,” reads the statement.

Serbia’s and RS’ lawyers warned that, in the light of the above mentioned, enforcement of Lajcak’s decision “could lead to unforeseeable, heavy, even tragic consequences for the region.”

Lajcak is Striving to Abolish Republika Srpska

“High Representative’s decision is essentially, through the general procedural measures, revoking Republika Srpska status of the legal state entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was established and guaranteed by the Dayton Peace Agreement,” the statement says.

Associations of lawyers of Serbia and Republika Srpska have issued the joint appeal, especially addressed to the participants of Dayton Peace Accords, to revoke Lajcak’s decision, respecting all the legal and legitimate democratic principles and the rule of law.

Association of Lawyers of Serbia and Republika Srpska have started the initiative for preservation of culture of peace, legal, political, economic and social safety on the territory of RS as a formative state entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina. They called for respect and strict adherence to adopted international laws, especially those that pertain to the right of self-determination of the nations that freely govern their political status and freely provide the economic, social and cultural development.