Circle 99 rejects with indignation the attempts of alleged agents of B&H before the European Court of Human Rights

ANNOUNCEMENT

The Association of Independent Intellectuals Circle 99 rejects with indignation the attempts of alleged agents of Bosnia and Herzegovina before the European Court of Human Rights to use various “independent” media to try to include and link ethnicity with active voting rights in the “Kovačević” case.

Such an effort has political, not legal goals, in order to open the door for ethnonationalist’s desired ethnic political representation through the challenge of the “Kovacevic” EHCR judgement, and by that they wish to establish system contrary to all democratic standards, especially those necessary for integration into the European Union and NATO.

When voters go to the polls, they cannot be ethnically divided and classified into ethnic categories, so that, for example, ethnic Bosniaks would vote only for Bosniaks, ethnic Croats only for Croats, and ethnic Serbs only for Serbs. It would then be a formalized system of apartheid, where voters would have ribbons in different colors and who would receive ballots in “their” color so that they could vote only for “theirs” and no one else. Such a system of apartheid is defended and wanted to be achieved by the alleged agents of Bosnia and Herzegovina through their challenge to the “Kovacevic” ECHR judgement, which is of historical significance for Bosnia and Herzegovina and its Euro-Atlantic integration path.

Circle 99 is watching with disbelief this Council of Ministers, which has allowed itself such a “luxury” to seize constitutional competencies of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is the only constitutionally competent body for the appointment of all representatives, including legal representatives/agents of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina in international organizations, which certainly includes representatives before various international courts. Apart from the fact that this is a direct attack on the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council of Ministers goes a step further, even though it does not have constitutional competence, it appoints the same person as acting agent/representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina four times in a row, although the relevant law allows for a maximum of two consecutive appointments.

What does the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina look like in the eyes of the international community when, on its behalf, certain people complain about the court-determined violation and denial of active voting rights in order to maintain the current ethno-territorial discrimination?! Can any of these “professional complainants” put themselves in the shoes of an ethnic Bosniak, a returnee to the entity of Republika Srpska, who is forced by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina to have to vote for an ethnic Serb, where deniers of genocide and war crimes most often appear as candidates in elections, who even glorify war criminals in their political campaigns!? Is this the “legitimate goal” of the alleged agents, to enable the realization of the war results of ethnic cleansing and ethnic division of Bosnia and Herzegovina through the denial of the active voting right from the “Kovačević” EHCR judgement? If this is so, then it is a shameful goal of alleged and unconstitutional agents, which should be fought with all available means!

For its part, Circle 99 supports the fight of our member Dr. Slaven Kovačević, who on behalf of all of us citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina fights against apartheid, ethnic and territorial discrimination, for normal and equal active voting right, so that Bosnia and Herzegovina finally becomes a normal and democratic state with full rule of law and sovereignty held by all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We are sending appeal to all actors from the international community not to allow such unconstitutional actions of the Council of Ministers and thus to support the hope that the “Kovačević” ECHR judgement has awakened in the eyes of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.