Flag and Coat of Arms Removed from FBH Parliament

The federal parliament Lower House secretary has removed the Federation flag and coat of arms which have been pronounced unconstitutional.

The Federation flag and coat of arms have been removed from the parliament hall of the Croat-Muslim Bosnian Federation. IIzmir Hadziavdic, Lower House secretary, removed them from the wall, Nezaviske novine reports. 

By removing them, he wanted to stimulate other institutions to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina on the unconstitutionality of the coat of arms and flag of the Bosnian Federation and the coat of arms and anthem of the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska because they do not represent all three constitutive peoples in the country.

-- In the House of Peoples there are three constitutive peoples and one of them is not represented on the flag and coat of arms. I decided to symbolically out these coats of arms and flags from the parliament hall and office because there is no need for Bosnian Federation insignia to be present at sessions of the House of Peoples, and they will not be – Hadziavdic told Nezavisne novine.

But, although made, the decision has not been verified and is not legally valid until its publishing in the Bosnia-Herzegovina Official Gazette.

There are doubts about the issue in the federal parliament 

Hadziavdic said that the Bosnian Federation flag and markings in front of the parliament building have not been officially removed “because there are certain doubts about the issue in the parliament of Bosnia-Herzegovina”.

-- They are directed by a legalist principle in parliament. The explanation is that the marking not be touched until they are officially, in written form, informed of the Constitutional Court decision. I think that the official removal of the markings from the federal parliament will follow soon – Hadziavdic said.

In the federal government building, federal markings have not been removed because the decision of the Constitutional Court says that the coat of arms and flag were invalid only when it is published in the Official Gazette.

Republika Srpska is awaiting the verification of the Constitutional Court decision 

Institutions of Republika Srpska are not planning to remove symbols because there is no legal ground for that, they say.

-- When the decision is verified and published, then it is valid, so there are no grounds for removing the symbols at this point – said Zeljko Mirjanic, member of the assembly Constitutional Issues Committee.

Igor Radojcic, Republika Srpska parliament president, announced a commission would be chosen at the next assembly session, whose task would be to design new symbols.