Milorad Kojić, a representative of the SNSD party in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, stated today that the supreme courts of the entities harmonize judicial practice in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that there is no need to establish a supreme court at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“There is no imbalance in the sanctions imposed by the courts in the Republic of Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Kojić said during a discussion on the negative opinion of the Constitutional and Legal Committee on the proposal by representative Denis Zvizdić to establish a supreme court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Kojić emphasized that Zvizdić’s proposal is purely political, as there are no legal reasons for it. “Such a court, if established, would adjudicate in the fourth instance and would not establish the principle of equality of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Kojić explained.
Kojić responded to SDS representative Mladen Bosić, who mentioned that the President of the Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, supported the establishment of a supreme court of Bosnia and Herzegovina based in Banja Luka, clarifying that Dodik spoke about an appellate department of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Milan Petković, a representative of the Serb Club, stated during the discussion that the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina clearly specifies that jurisdiction over the judiciary is with the entities. “Zvizdić’s claims that Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country without a supreme court are not accurate because Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country that has two supreme courts. There is the Supreme Court of the Republika Srpska and the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Petković explained.
During the debate, Bosić acknowledged that the Constitution defines that the judiciary is at the entity level, but the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina transferred the jurisdiction of entity courts to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He added that this law would not be adopted at today’s session.
Šerif Špago, a representative of the SDA, said that his club would vote against the negative opinion of the Constitutional and Legal Committee related to the Proposal of the Law on the Supreme Court, which was also supported by Jasmin Emrić, a representative of the NES.
Zvizdić’s proposal suggests the need to establish a supreme court of Bosnia and Herzegovina with jurisdiction over the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Source: RTRS
