Serb Republic to mark Jan. 9 as RS Day, non-working holiday

The Serb Republic (RS) will mark January 6 and 7 (Julian calendar Christmas Eve and Christmas) and January 9 (RS Day) as non-working holidays.
Source: Beta Tuesday, January 3, 2017 

This was announced on Tuesday by the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Administration of the Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Christmas is defined as a religious holiday, in line with the Law on Holidays of the Serb Republic, while January 9 is defined by the Law on the Day of the Serb Republic.

The Beta agency is reporting that the Constitutional Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina earlier overturned the provisions of the Law on Holidays of the RS according to which January 9 is marked as RS Day, while this decision was published in the Official Gazette of the RS.

The court found that celebrating January 9 as RS Day was discriminatory toward the non-Serb citizens of the RS, considering that the entity's slava (patron saint day), St. Stefan - an Orthodox Christian holiday - was also marked on the same day.

A referendum was held in the Serb entity on September 25 when citizens decided that January 9 should continue to be marked as Republic Day. A month later, the National Assembly of the RS passed the Law on the Day of the RS.

According to the new law, this is a secular and "non-binding" holiday.

The Assembly also instructed the RS government to harmonize the Law on Holidays, in the part pertaining to expression of religious freedoms, but the government is yet to do this, Beta said