European Union “Structured Dialogue” on Bosnia Judiciary

Ashton-Markel

Serb Republic Opinions Presented

Serb Republic delegation presented at a technical meeting of the structured dialogue the official view on issues of Serb Republic Court, the Constitutional Court and the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, said Advisor to the Minister of Justice of Serb Republic, Nikola Kovacevic.

According to him, the focus is on the issue of how to appeal the decision of the Trial Court, the retroactive application of the Criminal Code of BiH in judicial decision making, selection of judges and prosecutors in VSTS and the legal regulation of the election of judges and prosecutors in the Serb Republic.

Kovacevic said that the Serb Republic representatives at the next meeting is likely to propose a way of resolving complaints at first instance verdict of BiH Court.Conveying the views of Serb Republic, Kovacevic said that BiH Court should not retroactively apply the Criminal Code, but the code of EX Yugoslavia as lenient, and that VSTS can not survive in this composition because in the selection of judges and prosecutors participate lawyers and prosecutors themselves, which is not good.

As a particularly important issue that is still open, Kovacevic mentioned the problem of choosing judges and prosecutors in the Serb Republic. Serbian Republic is committed that a body which will elect judges to be governed by the law of the Serb Republic, for which there is a constitutional basis in the Constitution of the Serb Republic and the conclusions of the National Assembly.

However my personal opinion is that changes in the judiciary should be more thorough. Representation and control to the federal judiciary should be more detailed.

In particular, it would be important to develop a strategy for action. It is obvious that the Muslim Bosniak political elite is making problems, and obstruction from the start. Obviously  they do not want any changes.

Action should be carefully coordinated with our American, Russian and European friends and could be in the form of taking control of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the judicial and executive police entities.