BiH CONSTITUTIONAL COURT ABOUT PRESIDENT DODIK’S APPEAL AGAINST BiH COURT’S JUDGMENT

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, OCTOBER 29 /SRNA/ – The Constitutional Court of BiH will review President Milorad Dodik’s appeal against the BiH Court’s judgment at an extraordinary session, scheduled for Tuesday, November 4, Goran Bubić, President Dodik’s lawyer, told SRNA.

Bubić stated that, according to the published agenda, the Constitutional Court is not expected that day to review the appeal submitted on September 5 regarding the Central Election Commission /CEC/ of BiH’s decision revoking the president’s office and calling snap presidential elections in Republika Srpska. "The agenda includes only the appeal against the criminal judgment. This can also be observed from the case number, as the number for the appeal concerning the CEC decision is different," Bubić explained. He added that there is a possibility for the Constitutional Court of BiH to merge the two cases. "I don’t see a draft decision yet. There is usually a draft. For now, the court’s website only shows the agenda," said Bubić. The extraordinary session of the Constitutional Court, at which the merits of the appeal will be decided, is scheduled for Tuesday, November 4, at 13:00. The Court of BiH sentenced the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, to one year in prison and imposed a six-year ban on political activity for “failing to comply with the decisions of Christian Schmidt.” Dodik was tried for a criminal offense introduced into the Criminal Code of BiH based on Schmidt’s decision. The appeal against the Court of BiH’s judgment was submitted to the Constitutional Court of BiH, as this is a necessary step for the case to be brought before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. In addition to this, President Dodik’s legal team also submitted to the Constitutional Court of BiH an appeal against the CEC decision to revoke his office and call snap presidential elections in Republika Srpska.