US Supreme Court Confirms Dismissal of Lawsuit Against OHR

The US Supreme Court has confirmed that it long ago dismissed an appeal by a Bosnian Serb for it to hear his case against the Office of the High Representative, OHR - the international body overseeing the 1995 Dayton peace deal in Bosnia.

Despite contrary information in some media outlets about his legal "victory" in the US, the US Supreme Court told BIRN that Zoran Zuza's lawsuit against the immunity from prosecution of the OHR had been rejected almost two years ago.

"The court petition for the case you reference below, 17-1166, Zoran Zuza v. Office of the High Representative, et al., was denied on April 16, 2018", Ashley Saunders, Public Information Specialist for the court, told BIRN on Wednesday.

Some Bosnian and regional media on Tuesday and Wednesday, quoting John Winthrop, Zuza's lawyer, claimed that the Supreme Court had in fact agreed to consider Zuza's lawsuit.

Russian news portal Sputnik on Tuesday quoted Zuza as saying that the alleged decision of the US Supreme Court to consider his case, is a significant "precedent" that signals that the time when OHR had any power in Bosnia "is long gone".

Zuza has been engaged in a long-standing legal battle with the OHR, suing it before US courts for unlawful suspension of his human and political rights.

The case dates back to June 2004 when the then High Representative, Jeremy Ashdown, removed Zuza from his post in the parliament of Republika Srpska, RS, one of two autonomous entities in Bosnia.

The former journalist was sacked along with 58 other senior RS officials for failing to co-operate with The Hague war crimes tribunal, ICTY, and for assisting war-crimes suspects. He and the other officials were barred from running for office and working in public institutions.