Dodik and Covic: Foreigners vs. Foreigners

By: Sead Omeragic

- It is high time for BH institutions and its representatives to take responsibility for this country, Dodik and Covic publicly shared their joint position following their meeting in Banja Luka.

Should the institutions really take responsibility, this duo would be already sitting in the courtroom, in the middle of a court trial, probably awaiting prison sentence, instead of discussing 'judiciary reforms'.   

I have a simple question: Can people who are subject to criminal procedure for the worst kind corruption, propose changes to the judiciary system? Can they do that before clearing their own names? Why are Dodik and Covic attacking the Constitutional Court BiH? Why don't they consult their legal consultants about quality of work of the Constitutional Court BiH?

All the verdicts and decisions of this institution are available to the top European legal experts and are under constant scrutiny. Their assessment so far evaluated their judgments as excellent – equal to judgements of the constitutional courts of the most powerful European democracies.

With that in mind, should not somebody assess competencies of the cheap political duo? Or would that be a mission impossible as we are talking about genuine legal lay persons? It is a fact that these two national leaders negotiate and agree on everything without asking opinion of the 'third' or the 'fourth'. In fact, how come Covic and Dodik do not allow equality for The Others in Bosnia and Herzegovina? How come they do not mention a decade old verdicts of the European Court for Human Rights, such as the Sejdic-Finci verdict?

Are the verdicts of the European court unacceptable because judges in Strasbourg are all foreigners? Why is the advocate of the European path for BiH against European law?

How did these two become political xenophobes? After the common islamophobia, all of a sudden we have got xenophobia of same intensity. Probably from the need to abolish or weaken the most important institution of the state Bosnia and Herzegovina, to free them from any responsibility, and to unleash all kinds of evil.  

Covic and Dodik said that they are against revision of lawsuit of BiH against Serbia for genocide. Probably because the judges are 'foreigners'. Foreigners were also judges at the Hague Tribunal where political and military top ranks of the Republika Srpska and Herzeg-Bosnia have been tried.

That's why brutality of crimes over besieged towns of Bosnia and Herzegovina upset the world public to the point where Tribunal became necessary. Because joint criminal actions of Milosevic and Tudjman became an international fact. That's why peace agreements for BiH were signed in the United States, France, Germany, never in the Balkans.

Why are foreign judges problem? Why are Dodik and Covic 'local? They are foreigners too as they have citizenships of other countries!

Are they 'local' because they are charged for local crimes? Are they 'local' when they rush to Belgrade and Zagreb to get opinions? Or when they seek support and patronage for their destructive ideas which they then bring back to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Almost like local war criminals Karadzic and Boban, despicable yes-men of Milosevic and Tudjman.

Covic went to visit (sanctioned) Dodik; the question is how will react his so far loyal mentors from Zagreb because there's something ugly in this gesture of Covic. The meeting took place after brutal personal accusations that Dodik directed at the US Ambassador.

Smells like cynicism of the worst kind: requesting removal of foreign judges from the Constitutional Court BiH whose verdict was endorsed by the US administration by imposing sanctions on Dodik after marking 9 January? Why does Covic, in such cynical manner, disrespect Dodik's sanctions, thus endorsing his behavior and actions?