On 24 September 2025, the Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska (RS) ruled that provisions of the RS Criminal Code were incompatible with the entity’s Constitution, which guarantees citizens equality before the law.
Under this Code, convicts may commute prison sentences of up to one year into a fine, calculated at 100 convertible marks (BAM) per day.
The Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska ruled that this law gives wealthier convicts an unfair advantage over those unable to pay.
In practice, the ruling means the provision must either be struck from the Criminal Code or amended, with the final decision resting with the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NSRS).
The initiative to review the law was filed in March 2025 by Banja Luka lawyer Dario Lj. Sandić. The initiative pointed out that, under the law, a year behind bars carries a price tag of 36,500 BAM, payable within three months.
“With the average salary at around 1,400 BAM (although in reality it is closer to 1,000 BAM), the sum of 36,500 BAM represents the equivalent of nearly two and a half years’ wages. An ordinary citizen earning an average salary could never afford to pay such an amount,” Sandić argued.
In the initiative, it was explained that this legal option is out of reach for an unemployed person who, for example, “illegally cut down trees to provide firewood for their family during winter,” and is effectively available only to those earning above the average salary—amounting to discrimination based on financial status.
By accepting his initiative, the Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska stated in its reasoning that the provision is problematic because the trial court must approve a convict’s request without the discretion to consider the circumstances of the case, the gravity of the offence, the facts presented, or the character of the offender. In this way, the principle of fairness and legal certainty is called into question.
The ruling of the RS Constitutional Court, and any future amendment to the law, will apply only to those convicted before courts within this entity.
For convicts in other courts, this ruling changes nothing, as they fall under the criminal codes of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the Federation of BiH (FBiH), and the Brčko District, which require courts to accept requests to commute prison sentences of less than one year.
This legal option does not exist in neighbouring countries, which has led some Bosnian citizens convicted abroad to seek the transfer of their sentence back to BiH to buy it out, as previously reported by the Centre for Investigative Reporting (CIN).
