The high representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, used his special powers on Saturday to cancel two controversial laws recently passed by the Serb entity in that country, refusing to recognize the decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia, AFP reports.

At the end of June, the Assembly of the Republika Srpska adopted a text prohibiting the execution of decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the territory of the Serbian entity.

Christian Schmidt canceled this law, believing that it would affect the constitutional order of the Balkan country, shaken by a new political crisis.

The Republika Srpska parliament also passed a law on June 21 that renders inapplicable in this Bosnian-Serb entity decisions taken by the High Representative of the International Community, whose role is to ensure compliance with the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the 1995 intercommunal war in that country.

Christian Schmidt abolished this law as well.

The two laws provoked a heated reaction in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially from Bosnian (Muslim) leaders, some of whom saw them as a “direct threat to peace in Bosnia”, as well as from the US, France and Germany.

“The recent decisions adopted by the Assembly of the Republika Srpska are a direct violation of the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Dayton Peace Agreement,” said a German diplomat at a press conference in Sarajevo.

Christian Schmidt said that the adopted laws will not enter into force and that “the entire procedure” regarding them is now considered “closed”.

Before the High Representative of the International Community announced this decision, the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, said that none of his decisions would be implemented.

“We will not lower our heads. Republika Srpska will not accept any decision of a fake supreme representative,” Milorad Dodik said.

The US Embassy in Sarajevo, for its part, announced that it firmly supports the High Representative’s decision.

This law was adopted at the initiative of the President of the Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, who accuses the Constitutional Court of passing decisions to the detriment of the Serbian entity and demands its reform, especially the departure of international judges.

These international judges make decisions together with six local judges (two Bosniaks, two Serbs and two Croats).

“As far as Schmidt is concerned, his decisions mean nothing. They will not be implemented,” Dodik said at a press conference on Friday.

Dodik, who is close to the Kremlin, has become the target of US and British sanctions after increasing separatist threats in recent years. (Agerpress)