Republika Srpska National Assembly

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic and FM Ivica Dacic met on Thursday in Belgrade with Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency Zeljka Cvijanovic and the Speaker of the Republika Srpska National Assembly Nenad Stevandic.

Bosnia and Herzegovina held its ninth general elections on 2 October 2022.

Lawmakers in the Republika Srpska National Assembly voted on Thursday to adopt a draft law to set up the entity's own High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council - intensifying the political crisis in the country as Bosnian Serb political leaders continue to challenge state-level authority.

Lawmakers in the Republika Srpska National Assembly voted on Tuesday evening to reject a demand from High Representative Valentin Inzko, the international overseer of Bosnia's peace agreement, for people convicted of war crimes to be stripped of decorations awarded to them by the National Assembly in 2016.

The Bosnian Serb parliament will discuss a request from Bosnia's international overseer, the Office of the High Representative, OHR, to revoke decorations given to convicted war criminals.

High Representative Valentin Inzko, the international overseer of Bosnia and Herzegovina's peace agreement, has sent a letter demanded that Republika Srpska National Assembly, the parliament in the Serb-dominated entity, annuls honours that it awarded last October to people convicted of war crimes within "a deadline of three months, by the end of April 2021".

Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik said on Thursday evening that plans are underway to mark the disputed Day of Republika Srpska on January 9, even though the state Constitutional Court declared the holiday unconstitutional.

Dodik also said that members of the Bosnian armed forces would not be allowed to participate.

Demobilised soldiers who say they have been denied early retirement by the Republika Srpska authorities have vowed to protest outside the entity's National Assembly and claimed they were willing to commit suicide if the government doesn't grant them early retirement and pensions or reinstatement into military service.

The Tuzla-based Foundation for Truth, Justice, Reconciliation has filed a criminal complaint against Nedeljko Cubrilovic, president of the National Assembly in Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska, and members of the organising committee that recently gave awards to convicted war criminals including Radovan Karadzic.

After hours of heated debate, the Republika Srpska National Assembly passed a law on Tuesday declaring that the disputed Day of Republika Srpska will continue to be held on January 9 - the day on which the entity was founded in 1992 - but that it will be a secular event.

Observing the holiday will also not be mandatory for non-Serbs living in the entity.