ĆEMAN EXCEEDS HIS AUTHORITY AND SHOWED BIAS

SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 10 /SRNA/ – Legal expert Ognjen Tadić stated that what Mirsad Ćeman, in capacity as President of the incomplete Constitutional Court of BiH, did today represents a serious overreach of authority and that his today's temporary measure might have been somewhat objective if he had also made a decision adopting the temporary measure requested by the legal team of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik.

"The president of the Constitutional Court may issue a temporary measure independently only in exceptional circumstances, i.e. in case of impossibility to convene a session of the Court," Tadić told SRNA. He emphasized that Ćeman must explain why he believes it was impossible to convene a session. Explaining that Constitutional Court President can convene a session whenever he chooses, Tadić reminded that the Court has, for a long time now, been holding sessions online. "This was also the case with the previous 161st session held in August this year. So what, then, is preventing Mirsad Ćeman from proceeding in the same way? Where is the evidence that he tried to convene a session and failed?" Tadić asked. According to him, this overreach by the president of the Constitutional Court would have had at least a shred of objectivity if Ćeman made a decision today adopting temporary measure requested by Dodik's lawyers. "That would have created at least some image on impartiality and opportunity for saying that, as Court president, he acted to halt all processes that could have irreversible consequences – including, among other things, the damage caused by the unlawful attempt by Christian Schmidt, the Court, and the BiH Central Electoral Commission /CEC/ to overthrow democratically elected President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik," Tadić stressed. He concluded that once again, it becomes clear one should not be naïve and expect such actions in an environment where neither the Constitutional Court nor others in the chain of command actually respect the Constitution of BiH, because everything they do is aimed at undermining that very constitution. Earlier today, Ćeman issued a temporary measure at the request of 14 members of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly suspending items 6, 7, and 8 of the Conclusions adopted by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska regarding the BiH Central Electoral Commission’s decision to terminate the office of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik. These conclusions were adopted at the 24th special session held on August 22, 2025. In the adopted conclusions, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska reaffirmed that Dodik was elected by the people of Republika Srpska in free and democratic elections and requested that he continue to perform his duties as president in full capacity, respecting the Constitution of Republika Srpska and fulfilling his constitutional responsibilities. The conclusions also rejected the possibility of holding snap presidential elections in Republika Srpska.