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The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, today removed Mr Ante Jelavic from his positions as a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and barred him from holding any other official or elected public office. Mr Jelavic is also barred from running in elections and from holding office in political parties, so that he has ceased to be President of the HDZ BiH.
By virtue of the High Representative's further Decisions, Mr Ivo Andric-Luzanski was removed as a delegate in the BiH House of Representatives. Alongside Mr Marko Tokic and Mr Zdravko Batinic they have been barred from running in elections, holding public office and posts within political parties. All three therefore cease to be Vicepresidents of the HDZ BiH. As a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and as party president of the HDZ BiH, it was Mr Jelavic's duty to uphold the Constitutional order of the country. Furthermore, Mr Jelavic had an explicit duty to serve citizens -- in particular, the Croat people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Instead, he forced his party to withdraw from political institutions and to violate the Constitutional order, to the extent that he deprived his own electorate of political representation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The High Representative has not taken this decision lightly. Since long before November elections, Mr Jelavic had worked to undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement. It was Mr Jelavic and some of his extremist associates who threatened the Croat people with isolation. This culminated in:
Mr Jelavic rejected all attempts by the High Representative to establish a constructive dialogue. The High Representative stated his personal disappointment that even in the course of an extensive meeting, Mr Jelavic made promises that he subsequently broke. The High Representative told Mr Jelavic clearly and repeatedly that he understood Croats concerns over the Croat representation in the House of Peoples. He offered to give them a full and sympathetic hearing in the drafting of a new election law. However, Mr Jelavic persistantly refused to discuss this issue. If the HDZ cooperated in the legal structures, they could make sure that the election law takes their concerns into account. They would also have had the majority of the seats in the Federation House of Peoples and thereby be capable of blocking any legislation by invoking the vital interest clause, would they decide to participate in the House. Despite the High Representative's repeated request, Mr Jelavic refused to nominate members to the Constitutional Commissions, which offer the Croat people the historic opportunity to secure their constituent status across the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This crucial development has simply been neglected by Mr Jelavic. "All this", the High Representative said, "has led me to believe that Mr Jelavic is not concerned with the well-being and position of the Croat people, but the well-being and position of extreme nationalists and perhaps even criminal elements in his party." The so called third entity would protect those elements form the rule of law and lead ordinary citizens into isolation, let alone be detrimental to the interest of Croats living outside of Herzegovina. The High Representative underlined that "there will of course be no economic or other sanctions against the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina". Mr Jelavic and his associates were removed, because they were aiming at the isolation of their own people. "This is of course not what I want", the High Representative said. "I want the Croat people to participate in the improvement of conditions in Bosnia and Herzegovina - economic, social and cultural conditions." "There is no Bosnia and Herzegovina without the Croat people of Bosnia and Herzegovina", Petritsch concluded.
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