DODIK: CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE WILL BE INITIATED OVER DECISIONS THAT DEROGATE FROM REPUBLIKA SRPSKA CONSTITUTION

LAKTAŠI, OCTOBER 11 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik announced that a constitutional challenge would be filed with the Republika Srpska Constitutional Court over decisions and laws adopted at the BiH level that derogate from the Constitution of Republika Srpska.

"The Constitution states that the President of the Republic may step down only by resigning. I have not resigned, nor do I intend to. Another possibility is if someone initiates the question of recall, in which case I can be removed in the same way I was elected — through a referendum requiring 50 percent plus one vote. That is what the Constitution provides for," Dodik told reporters. He pointed out that the Constitutional Court of BiH, in the Ljubić case and several other decisions, clearly stated that the constitutions of BiH and Republika Srpska cannot be derogated from by decisions or laws at the BiH level, including court rulings. Dodik stated that the recent measures adopted in connection with the ruling of the Court of BiH have derogated from the Republika Srpska Constitution. "These `masters` in Sarajevo believed that everything was available to them, assuming that the time of hunting us in Republika Srpska would never be over. But some things are happening. The fact is that we are now waiting for the decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the request for a temporary measure, which should suspend all executions and acts adopted so far," Dodik said. He added that this process is also taking an unusually long time, but expressed confidence that a decision would come soon. "I don’t have any particular expectations in this regard, but we need to complete this process at the level of the Constitutional Court of BiH and then take it to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where many similar decisions were annulled only because the hierarchy of legislation was not respected," Dodik emphasized. He says that it is important for the Republika Srpska Constitutional Court to issue its own decisions and point out that this was a violation of the Constitution and inconsistent with constitutional principles. "That will help us in Strasbourg and in many other places where we will file complaints," Dodik emphasized.