The Serb member of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency complained to the President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that he has not been consulted regarding the appointment of a German judge to the country’s Constitutional Court although he was supposed to be.
Milorad Dodik – who wants foreign judges be removed from the Constitutional Court altogether – complained in a letter to Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos that the Croat member of Bosnia’s Presidency who currently chairs the body never informed him of the appointment proposal but approved the candidate himself.
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Bosnia’s Constitutional Court consists of nine members. Six of them are elected in the parliaments of the two semi-autonomous Bosnian entities and the remaining three are foreign nationals, selected by the President of the European Court of Human Rights after consulting with the Presidency.
“Zeljko Komsic, the current Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, did not inform me of your letter from November 18, 2019, and of your selection of Mrs. (Angelika) Nussberger as a candidate for the position of a member of Bosnia’s Constitutional Court and of your request to consult with the Bosnian Presidency on your selection of the candidate, in accordance with the Constitution,” Dodik’s letter said.
“Mr Komsic never consulted with me or with (Bosniak Presidency member) Mr Sefik Dzaferovic, although he was obliged to do so according to the guidelines of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosnia’s Constitution,” Dodik wrote.
He alleged that Komsic set a “dangerous precedent” which brought the normal functioning of the Presidency into question.
“This way he put the naming of Mrs Nussbereger for a member of Bosnia’s Constitutional Court into question, as Bosnia’s Presidency has never formally expressed its stance on the proposal,” Dodik wrote.
Dodik’s party is the main initiator of a proposed law to remove foreign judges from the Constitutional Court which was submitted on Tuesday. The issue is central to the latest political crisis in the country.
