Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik told reporters today that a bill establishing new rules for the BiH Constitutional Court would be ready to submit to BiH Parliament by Monday. RS political leaders said in a statement earlier this week that they would insist that the new law on the court be adopted within 120 day. The court recently issued a decision–approved by two Bosniak and three foreign judges over the dissent of two Croat and two Serb judges–saying that the RS National Day holiday on January 9 is discriminatory toward non-Serbs.
“At the same time, the Republika Srpska Parliament will review a decision to hold a referendum on whether it will accept the decision of the BiH Constitutional Court to abolish Republika Srpska Day at the first next session,” Dodik told reporters in Banjaluka.
He said that the referendum will have a different connotation in case the bill is adopted and in case it is not adopted.
“If the bill is adopted, the referendum will only decide on whether January 9 will be changed, and if it is not adopted, a referendum will be a plebiscite on what the people think of such work of the BiH Constitutional Court,” Dodik said.
The foreign judges on the court were originally intended to remain in place for just five years after the court’s formation, but the High Representative has pushed for them to remain.
