He told the press in Sarajevo on Tuesday he was forced to make such a decision because of the obvious misuse of pardons by officials who were thus helping friends and party colleagues.
According to data collected by Ashdown's office, the presidential pardon is massively used in the entire Bosnia although it should be an exception.
Ashdown said that in the Croat-Muslim Federation pardon was granted to every third person requesting it and in the Serb Republic to every fifth person.
He added that 142 people were pardoned in Bosnia and Herzegovina in this year's first eight months alone, recalling that Bosnia has 3.5 million inhabitants. In comparison, he said that only 43 people were pardoned in the United States, which has 300 million inhabitants, in the last 20 years.
Additional confusion was caused in Bosnia by the fact that apart from members of the state presidency, pardons could be granted also by the presidents of the two entities and the mayor of Brcko, which is a separate administrative unit.
The pardon law on the state level was suspended last year, but due to the above mentioned misuse Ashdown decided to extend the suspension to the entities and the Brcko district.