BHRT, the Bosnian national broadcaster, is close to retrieving the money it is owed and therefore could clear the debts they owe the EBU, the European Broadcasting Union.

The Supreme Court of Republika Srpska has ruled in favour of BHRT in two court proceedings against RTRS, the public broadcaster of Republika Srpska. Over a number of years, RTRS has not shared the funds collected from television licence payments in Bosnia & Herzegovina with BHRT, which has contributed to the organisation’s debt. Belmin Karamehmedović, General Director of BHRT, had the following to say:

“Courts in Republika Srpska will no longer be able to refer to the arguments they invoked when they ruled against BHRT. Unfortunately, this still does not mean the end of the road to exercise our legal rights that have been denied to us since 2017, but this is certainly a good and positive step for BHRT and the continuation of our fight to get the tax that is due to us.

When the process is restarted in Republika Srpska, it will take some time. We expect that it will not be as long as in previous years, but still, the right of BHRT to receive the funds provided for by law will have to go through a complete procedure. In the meantime, we have to find a solution on how to preserve public broadcasting in Bosnia & Herzegovina.”

Damir Katica, the lawyer who represented BHRT, had the following to say:

“The Supreme Court of Republika Srpska annulled its verdicts, adopted the Revision of BHRT, annulled the verdict of the District Commercial Court in Banja Luka and the verdict of the Higher Commercial Court. The cases were sent back to the trial court for retrial. We expect that the next steps will ensure the consistent application of laws and decisions of the highest judicial institutions, which would finally ensure equality, legality and sustainability of the system in the interest of all citizens of Bosnia & Herzegovina.”

RTRS’s current debt to BHRT amounts to more than 98,000,000 KM. Should this debt be cleared, it could allow BHRT to repay the debt it owes to the EBU and return to the Eurovision Song Contest and other EBU events.

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Author: Richard Taylor

Source: Eurovoix