Bosnia's State Constitutional Court assessed as unconstitutional parts of the Law on Agricultural Land of Republika Srpska, one of two Bosnia's semi-autonomous regions, which stipulates that public agricultural land by force of law becomes the property of Republika Srpska.
The Court acted upon the motion filed by seven delegates of the RS Council of Peoples and assessed that the Article 53 of the Law, which stipulates that “agricultural land that is by its nature a public good, i.e. the state property, by force of law becomes the property of the Republika Srpska,” was not in line with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The Constitutional Court determined that the disputed provision is opposite to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because this matter exclusively falls under the jurisdiction of Bosnia and Herzegovina in regulating the state property issues,” the court said.
The issue was also raised by Franjo Komarica, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Banja Luka, who earlier called on Croat officials and the international community to intervene and prevent further implementation of the law, warning that the authorities of the Serb-majority entity were practically seizing the land whose actual owners are displaced Croats and Bosniaks.
“Ninety-nine percent of those concerned, who have been removed from their ancestors’ land, have no idea about that. They live in Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany… and are saying that they do not have any information about that. Those people are about to lose their property overnight,” Komarica warned.
Following the court's decision, the bishop said he was thankful to God for it, adding that it seems like “the rule of law has finally taken root.”
“It has to be known what falls under the jurisdiction of the state, entities or cantons, so people know how to act in accordance with that. They are confused this way and we think that something that is under the state's competencies was usurped by someone else. We found it necessary to warn about the problem, and competent institutions had to pass a decision. I am glad it has happened and I hope it will be implementable, so we know who is in charge,” Komarica told N1.
But, Milorad Dodik, the Bosnian Serb leader, strongly objects. He accused the Constitutional Court of breaching the Constitution.
“That's a political body and the body for the execution of the Serbs and RS. The Constitutional Court is not the place of justice but a place of speculations,” he stressed.
According to him, the entities are actual owners of the land and facilities.
“If they determined today that the land doesn't belong to a certain level of authority, i.e. the entities and that it belongs to Bosnia and Herzegovina, then they breached the Constitution. The Constitutional Court violates the Constitution,” underlined Dodik.
