( CNN ) -- Bosnia 's constitution violates European human rights law by banning Jews , Roma and other ethnic minorities from running for president or the upper chamber of Parliament , the European Court of Human Rights ruled . Two prominent citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina -- one Jewish , the other Roma , or Gypsy -- took the former Yugoslav republic to Europe 's highest court over the provision . Jakob Finci and Dervo Sejdic `` complained that ... they were prevented by the Constitution ... and the corresponding provisions of the Election Act 2001 , from being candidates for the presidency and the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly solely on the ground of their ethnic origins , '' the court said in its ruling . That `` amounts to discrimination and breaches their electoral rights , '' the court said . A 17-judge panel found in the citizens ' favor by a vote of 16-1 on the law banning them from running for president , and 14-3 on the one keeping them from becoming members of the House of Peoples . A human rights group that worked on the case welcomed the verdict . `` By forbidding whole communities the right to participate fully in the country 's political process , Bosnia 's constitution and electoral law violate fundamental human rights standards , '' said Lucy Claridge , the head of law for Minority Rights Group International . `` The European Court of Human Rights acknowledges this fact today . '' It was the first time the court has found a violation under the European Convention 's Protocol No . 12 , which generally prohibits discrimination , the rights group said . Bosnia and Herzegovina has a recent and bloody history of ethnic violence , suffering years of war in the early 1990s as Yugoslavia tore itself apart . The court acknowledged that the country 's constitution was designed to bring that bloodshed to an end . The constitution created a three-member presidency , with one member from each of the country 's three main ethnic groups -- Serbs , Croats and `` Bosniaks , '' who are Muslim . The complex structure was intended to reunify two parts of the country that were at war with each other , and to keep any two factions from imposing their will on the third . The constitution distinguishes between Bosnia 's `` constituent peoples '' and `` others '' -- those who are not Serb , Croat or Bosniak . `` This system , put in place at a time when a fragile cease-fire had been accepted by all the parties to the inter-ethnic conflict that had deeply affected the country , pursued the legitimate aim of restoring peace , '' the court said of the arrangement negotiated in 1995 . But `` the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina ( has ) improved considerably since the Dayton Peace Agreement and the adoption of the Constitution , '' the court said . The case is Sejdic and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina ( application nos . 27996/06 and 34836/06 ) . The verdict can not be appealed . The 1992-95 Bosnian conflict was the longest of the wars spawned by the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s . Backed by the government of then-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic , Bosnian Serb forces seized control of more than half the country and launched a campaign against the Muslim and Croat populations . Radovan Karadzic , the leader of the Bosnian Serbs at the time , is now on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , facing charges of war crimes and genocide . He was removed from power in 1995 , when the Dayton Accords that ended the Bosnian war barred anyone accused of war crimes from holding office . Milosevic died in 2006 while on trial before the tribunal .
Bosnia 's constitution breaks European human rights law , says court . A law banned Jews , Roma and other ethnic minorities from running for president or the upper chamber of Parliament . Two prominent citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina took the country to Europe 's highest court over the provision .