The Bosnian Constitutional Court said on Tuesday the Venice Commission earlier this month gave its opinion, at the court's request, on the alignment of some provisions from the RS law on holidays with the Bosnian Constitution. The court did so at the request of state Presidency member Bakir Izetbegovic.
The Serb entity chose January 9 as a holiday in memory of 9 January 1992, when some Serb MPs in the then Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided to proclaim the "Republic of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina" to thwart the announced establishment of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent state. This act directly led to a war of three and a half years.
The Venice Commission assessed that the date was imposed on all RS citizens, regardless of how they saw it.
"The selection of 9 January as the Republic Day by the Law on Holidays of the Republika Srpska is inspired by an event of particular significance for one of the constituent peoples only, which is painful for people belonging to other communities. Nevertheless, it is imposed upon all citizens of the Republika Srpska," the Venice Commission said, adding that it "may give rise to discrimination" against non-Serb citizens, which is banned by the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination provisions incorporated into the Bosnian Constitution.
This assessment will be used by the Constitutional Court in handing down a ruling on Izetbegovic's complaint, which will be binding.
Dodik said he expected the court not to adopt decisions "under political pressure."
RS Republic Day was proclaimed before the war in Bosnia and it was not proclaimed to discriminate against anyone, he said.