Received by Registration Unit 01/31/2018 12:46:22 PM - The Constitutional Conrt Must Reject the Latest Attack on Republika Legitimacy January 31,2018 After the Constitutional Court? 5 November 2015 decision on the 9 January RS Day holiday, the RS National Assembly implemented the decision by adopting a new lawRepublika which made RS Day entirely voluntary and explicitly secular. Despite this, the new law 15 now itself being challenged by the Bosniak caucus before the C0nstitutional Court. . RS. Day, which marks the anniversary of Republika birth, is a Celebration of Republika existence?an existence the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 of the Dayton Accords, fully acknowledges and embraces. Unfortunately, more than two decades after the Dayton Accords, to which Republika IS a signatory, many Bosniak politicians still refuse to accept that existence In 2013, SDA President Bakir [zetbegovic ?led a constitutionally groundless complaint against the RS Day Holiday in "the Constitutional Court. In November 2015', the Constitutional Court?s two Besniak members?both of them former high SDA of?cialkjoined with its three foreign members to outvote. the cOurt?s Serb and Croat members, to uphold Izetbegovic?s complaint. The Court?s history of political in?uence and lack of independence in favor of the Bosniaks has been acknowledged by its own former foreign members and repeatedly criticized by international observers The decision held that inclusion of RS Day under the RS Law on Holidays privileges Serbs because the of the date?s connection with the Serb historical heritage and January 9?s status as the Day. of St. Stefan, the Patron Saint of Republika in the Serbian Orthodox Church (notwithstanding the fact that?religious heliday's are the norm in and throughout Europe). The decision emphasized that the Law on Holidays ?impoSes the celebration on all the inhabitants by introducing it as a day off, namely for them to refrain from work on that day . . . I The Constitutional Court?s November 2015 decision, however, did not forbid the RS from celebrating the date of its founding. It only required the. RS to ?hannonize Article 3(b) of the Law on Holidays of the Republika (Of?cial Gazette of the Republika no.? 43/07) with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina-? Despite disagreeing profOundly with the Constitutional Court majority?s View that this provision was constitutionally defective, the RS National Assembly in Oct0ber 2016 passed a new law in accordance with the Constitutional Court?s decision. The new law replaced Article of the Law on Holidays with a separate Law on Day of Republika The "new law makes explicit that the 9th of January is to be ?celebrated as a secular holiday.? Moreover, the new law. implements the Constitutional Court?s decision by making observation of RS Day absolutely voluntary; unlike the Law on Holidays, it contains not even a suggestion that places of work should close. - In response to the Constitutional Court?s November 2015 decision, members of the RS National Assembly also ?led challenges in the Constitutional Court against the Federation?s ?Independence Day? and ?Statehood Day? holidays, which are not celebrated by Serbs. Received by Registration Unit 01/31/2018 12:46:22 PM Receivedby Registration Unit 01/31/2018 12:46:22 PM .?1ndependence Day,? in particular, is deeply offensive to Serbs, who consider it to?be the . anniversary of an illegitimate referendum that tore Bil-I residents away from their country and- triggered BiH?s terrible war. In July 2017, the Constitutional Court rejected those challenges, ?despite having upheld Izetbegovic?s similar complaint over RS Day. A series of decisions that permitted the Federation holidays, while forbidding the closely analogous RS Day holiday, would violate prohibitions against ethnic discrimination 1n the Constitution and international agreements to which IS a party. Despite the fact that the 5 2016 Law on Day of Republika fully implements the Constitutional Court?s November 2015 decision, Bosniak members of the RS Council of Peoples have now challenged it before the Constitutional Court. The new challenge con?rms that SDA politicians? objections to RS Day have never been about the day?s alleged unconstitutionality- Instead, the SDA wishes to outlaw the holiday marking Republika birtheweven if? it is wholly secular and voluntary?because'they seek to delegitimize the very existence of Republika Republika Was a party to the treaty that created the ConstitutiOn, and the Constitution InOt only af?rms Republika existence, but allocates most constitutional powers to Republika and the other constitutional Entity, the Federation. 1f the Constitutional Court were to uphold this new complaint, it would be an attack on Republika legitimacy and constitutional order. Received by Registration Unit 01/31/2018 12:46222 PM