ARCHIVE – Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik speaks during a press conference. Photo: Darko Vojinovic/AP/dpa/Archive photo
Keystone
In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the president of the Serb part of the country, Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, has been sentenced to one year in prison and the loss of his office for separatist activities. The Bosnian Court of Appeal confirmed a corresponding first-instance ruling by the Federal Court in February.
Dodik, who has been pushing for the secession of the RS from the Bosnian state for years, had received the sentence because he had knowingly disregarded the decisions of the High Representative of the international community, the German Christian Schmidt (CSU). The latter had suspended separatist judicial laws of the RS, and Dodik in turn had arranged for Schmidt’s legal acts not to be published in the Official Gazette of the RS.
With the confirmation of the first-instance verdict by the Court of Appeal in Sarajevo, its provision also came into effect, according to which the RS President is banned from holding office for six years. This means that he is no longer able to exercise his office. According to Bosnian law, the one-year prison sentence can be lifted in exchange for the payment of daily rates.
Convicted man defies the judge’s ruling
In an initial statement, Dodik emphasized that he did not recognize the judge’s ruling. “The verdict is an attack on the Republika Srpska,” he told journalists in Banja Luka, the seat of the RS administration. The court was “politicized”, Schmidt said, a foreign actor “without legitimacy”. At the same time, he hoped for the support of Serbia, Russia and US President Donald Trump.
Bosnia-Herzegovina has consisted of the Bosnian-Croat Federation (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS) since the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995, which ended a three-year civil war. The office of High Representative also stems from the Dayton Agreement. Its holder can dismiss elected officials, pass laws and create new authorities. Schmidt has held the office since August 2021.