On 19 September 2024, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina held its 148th plenary session, where it considered requests for constitutional review and appeals, and decided other issues relevant to the work of the Constitutional Court.
Of the decisions adopted at the plenary sessions, the Constitutional Court singles out the following:
U-12/24 – In this case, the Constitutional Court dealt with requests lodged by Mr. Denis Zvizdić, First Deputy Chair of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina and four delegates to the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for review of the constitutionality of the Election Law of the Republika Srpska (Official Gazette of RS, 61/24), In this decision, the Constitutional Court found that the contested law was not consistent with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina because it took over the responsibilities of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Constitutional Court concluded that there were no provisions in the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina based on which the constitutionality of the disputed law passed by the RS National Assembly could be established. In addition, the Constitutional Court recalled that the Election Law of BiH constituted a “decision of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina“ and that, according to the Constitution of BiH, the Entities were obliged to comply with these decisions. Therefore, the contested law was repealed in its entirety and the interim measure adopted on 24 July 2024 ceased to have legal effect.
AP-509/21 (Sanjin Sefić) – In this case, the Constitutional Court concluded that he appellant's right to a fair trial, the right to an effective legal remedy and right to an appeal had not been violated in the proceedings concluded with the contested judgment of the Supreme Court of the Federation of BiH. The Constitutional Court found that the appellant had enjoyed the guarantees under the right to a fair trial and that the ordinary courts gave relevant and sufficient reasons that did not jeopardize the fairness of the proceedings. Furthermore, given the criminal proceedings as a whole, the Constitutional Court concluded that the media exposure of this case did not affect in any way whatsoever the court’s final decision regarding the appellant’s guilt.
AP-1117/22 (Z. J.) – In this case, the Constitutional Court concluded that the County Court in Istočno Sarajevo had violated the appellant’s right to the prohibition of discrimination, in conjunction with the right to property when they dismissed the appellant's request for recognition of her right to survivors’ pension as a member of the family of the deceased insured, who was her common-law spouse. The Constitutional Court reminded of its hitherto case law, according to which distinction between married and common-law spouses when it comes to the issue of inheritance had no reasonable and objective justification. The Constitutional Court noted in this case that citizens could not bear the harmful consequences of the fact that the relevant laws were not harmonized in order to implement the legislator's consistent determination in the Family Law of the Republika Srpska to make equal common-law and married partners in all property relations, including the exercise of the right to survivors’ pension.
AP-2312/22 (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) – In this case, the Constitutional Court concluded that there had been a violation of the appellant’s right to a fair trial. It quashed the judgment of the Supreme Court of the Federation and BiH and decided that the judgment of the Cantonal Court in Odžak would remain in force. The Constitutional Court concluded that the Supreme Court had failed to comply with the decision of the Constitutional Court no. AP-3424/20, wherein the Constitutional Court found arbitrariness in the previous reasons given by the Supreme Court with regard to the issue of retroactive effect of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH thereby failing to remove the violation of the constitutional rights.
AP-2540/24 (Serb Democratic Party) – In this case, the Constitutional Court found that the appellant's right to freedom of association had been violated. Namely, in this case, the appellant’s application for participation in the 2024 local elections was rejected because it was unable to submit her own bank account. The Constitutional Court concluded that the appellant could not submit its own bank account for objective reasons – the economic sanctions imposed on it by the decision of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury (OFAC) 20 years ago. The Constitutional Court has emphasized, inter alia, that the imposed sanctions are of economic nature, and not political nature, and that their consequence was not the prohibition of the appellant from participating in the elections or political activity. The Constitutional Court noted that in this case that the Court decided only whether, considering the specific circumstances of the case and the appellant’s role in the political scene in BiH, the appellant should be enabled to participate in the elections. Furthermore, it was emphasized that the Constitutional Court did not decide in this case how the appellant would accomplish the financing of the election campaign, nor was that the subject matter of the proceedings in this case. However, given the circumstances of the present case, according to the Constitutional Court, the appellant’s right to participate in the elections must not be jeopardized by strictly formalistic interpretation and application of the law by CEC or the Court of BiH, since its political activity political activity would thereby be jeopardized only because it cannot for objective reasons, submit the number of its own account open based on an commission agreement for the sole purpose of financing the forthcoming elections.
All decisions adopted at today's plenary session will be delivered to the applicants/appellants within one month and published as soon as possible on the website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
