REFERENDUM IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA WILL BE THE PROPER ANSWER TO CONGLOMERATE OF RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

BELGRADE, AUGUST 9 /SRNA/ - The announced referendum in Republika Srpska will be the proper response to the conglomerate of violations of legal norms, which culminated in the verdict against President Milorad Dodik and the decision of the Central Election Commission /CEC/ of BiH to strip him of his mandate, stated Goran Petronijević, President of the Center for the Renewal of International Law.

“What we are witnessing is a form of violence against the Serb population and Republika Srpska, because the will of the citizens is now effectively being overturned, and no one should be allowed to violate that will,” Petronijević said. Petronijević emphasized that the CEC’s decision is not constitutive, but merely acknowledges the termination of the mandate, and reminded that, under the Constitution of Republika Srpska, only the people who granted the mandate to the president have the authority to take it away. “Unfortunately, so many legal inconsistencies have been introduced through the imposed rules of previous high representatives that it has come to the point where the CEC has taken away the mandate,” Petronijević told TV Prva. Speaking about the announced referendum in Republika Srpska, Petronijević emphasized that it is the most precise and direct way for a people to express their will, and that nothing ranks higher than a referendum. “I believe this would be the proper response. It is a forced, but proper response,” Petronijević said. Petronijević emphasized that the President of Republika Srpska is bound more strongly by the Constitution and the will of the people than by the so-called High Representative and laws that have been illegally enacted. According to him, BiH is internationally recognized but not sovereign, as its sovereignty is compromised by the mandate of the High Representative, which, in any case, was not intended to last long. Petronijević also noted that the EU has abused its power by placing the judiciary under control. “This is happening all across Europe, in France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, and now against Milorad Dodik... What they are doing is a crime against the law... But the process of asserting sovereignty is so strong that they cannot stop it,” Petronijević said.