Zeljko Komsic, the Chairman of Bosnia's Presidency, called on High Representative Christian Schmidt to immediately annul the decisions passed by the entity parliament of Republika Srpska, calling them “anti-constitutional.”

“Such assaults on the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina have an attempt of secession of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Republika Srpska entity as a final goal, and this is possible only if the judiciary is disempowered,” said Komsic.

The statement comes hours after the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, Bosnia's Serb-majority entity, passed Draft Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, which would transfer the competencies from the state-level council – the top judicial institution, onto the entity level.

The institution of the High Representative was established in 1995 and its main role is overseeing the civil part of the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, a peace deal which ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war and created the country's constitutional setup. In addition to that, the High Representative has special powers to dismiss officials but also to annul and impose laws.

Komsic stressed that “anti-constitutional activities” must be annulled by the High Representative and treated by the judicial institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He also recalled that the report on the state of judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina done by the European Commission's independent experts recommended the reform of the state-level High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council and did not ask for this institution to be formed at the entity level.

According to him, the Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency Milorad Dodik is initiating this because he lost control in the HJPC of BiH after the resignation of “his (former HJPC President) Milan Tegeltija.”

“He now wants to create his own, entity HJPC that he would netirely control and protect himself and his illegal decisions,” Komsic underlined.