Para-intelligence services as a sign of open dictatorship: The government introduces parallel institutions to maintain the regime

Banja Luka, 30. June 2025. year – The Draft Law on the Protection of the Constitutional Order, through which the government in the Republic of Srpska seeks to establish para-intelligence services with the aim of intimidation, represents the official transition of this entity into an open form of dictatorship where the persecution of political dissenters is legalized.

The law, which ironically deals with the protection of the constitutional order, contains numerous provisions that are questionable in terms of constitutionality, such as the establishment of a special “Service for the Protection of the Constitutional Order” under the direct control of the President, which has a wide range of competencies, such as “researching, collecting, processing, and analyzing intelligence data and information relevant to the security of the Republic of Srpska.” This leaves room for arbitrary persecution of individuals deemed to be a threat to the ruling system in RS.

Furthermore, the mentioned service would be headed by a director appointed by the President of the Republic of Srpska himself, which actually shows that the law is being enacted solely to maintain the regime of Milorad Dodik, under the guise of protecting the constitutional order, which is a characteristic of a military junta, not a democratic regime.

The law also provides for the establishment of a Special Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Srpska for the protection of the constitutional order of the Republic of Srpska, responsible for prosecuting a range of criminal offenses already defined by the Criminal Code of RS, while the prosecutors would be appointed by the National Assembly of RS. In addition to overlapping competencies and legal uncertainty, this contradicts the existing legal framework that regulates the appointment of holders of judicial functions and creates a parallel judicial system open to direct political influence and party control over the prosecution of these criminal offenses.

The ruling coalition, led by the political goals of Milorad Dodik, already attempted to pass this law in March, which was voted on in the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, but the Constitutional Court of RS decided that the law does not provide for proportional representation of all constituent peoples, which is why it was returned for revision.

TI BiH reminds that the current government in the Republic of Srpska has enacted a series of laws that suppress media freedom, expression, association, and public assembly, all with the aim of stifling criticism and dissent, as well as those who point out abuses and potential cases of corruption.

This has demonstrated, and the latest proposal of the Law on the Protection of the Constitutional Order of RS confirms, the unequivocal intention of the regime in RS to use all means, even unconstitutional ones, to establish complete control over all institutions and segments of society and ensure the absolute power of the regime.

TI BiH particularly emphasizes that in the Republic of Srpska there has long been an atmosphere of lynching, persecution of the opposition, independent media, and civil society, accompanied by direct calls for violence, and the instrumentalization of the judiciary to deal with the opposition, thereby creating an environment of insecurity for dissenters and those who criticize the public authorities.

Transparency International in BiH therefore calls for an urgent abandonment of the adoption of this and similar legal solutions, and to ensure the fundamental protection of the basic rights of all citizens.

Press rls_30_6_2025