High Representative in BiH Christian Schmidt addressed some claims by local politicians that they might submit drafts to the Law on Courts in BiH through which they could influence the method of appointment of international judges in the Constitutional Court of BiH, with some even suggesting the Law could be amended so that the judges can be removed from the Court entirely.

“Under the BiH Constitution, international judges in the Constitutional Court of BiH are appointed by the President of the European Court of Human Rights, to serve until the age of 70, unless they resign on their own free decision or are removed for cause, by consensus of the other judges,” Schmidt said on a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Likewise, he added, under the Constitution, a law passed by the BiH Parliamentary Assembly may only change the method of appointment of international judges but cannot terminate their mandates prematurely in order to replace them with domestic judges.