Bosnian court cancels arrest warrant for Republika Srpska leader Dodik

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 4 canceled the arrest warrant for the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, who is suspected of undermining the constitutional order.

This is reported by the Balkan service of Radio Liberty and Reuters.

The arrest warrant was lifted after Dodik voluntarily appeared before the Prosecutorʼs Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina with his lawyer for questioning. Before that, he had been in hiding for several months and had not appeared for questioning, and the country already had an arrest warrant in place. This was how he evaded it.

On the same day, at the request of the prosecutorʼs office, Dodik was brought to court. The court canceled the preventive measure of detention because the circumstances that led to his selection had changed.

Instead, the court ordered Dodik to report regularly to the relevant state body. These restrictions will remain in effect until they are needed or until the court lifts them by a separate decision. The validity of the preventive measures will be reviewed every two months.

In a joint statement, the court and prosecutorʼs office said that Dodik was separately warned: if he does not comply with the courtʼs conditions, he may be remanded in custody.

What preceded

Dodik is a pro-Russian supporter of secession from Bosnia. He initiated a law that would ban the state judiciary and police from operating in the Serbian region, but the Bosnian Constitutional Court temporarily suspended its operation. This law, modeled on the Russian one, provides for tight control over the activities of the public sector in RS. Dodik has said that the law will be implemented anyway, despite the courtʼs decision.

In March, the Prosecutorʼs Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued an arrest warrant for the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik and other politicians. They were charged with “violating the constitutional order”. The warrant was issued on the day the National Assembly of Republika Srpska was to discuss a draft constitution, according to which the authorities of the autonomy wanted to define it as a state of the Serbian people, grant it the right to self-determination, and create its own army. This contradicts the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Contrary to a domestic arrest warrant, Dodik crossed the border into neighboring Serbia in late March, traveling to Israel for a conference on anti-Semitism.

On March 27, the Court in Bosnia and Herzegovina issued an international arrest warrant for Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who is accused of violating the constitutional order.

• In February, a court in Bosnia and Herzegovina convicted Milorad Dodik of disobeying a decision by international peacekeeper Christian Schmidt, who oversees the Balkan country. Dodik was found guilty of ignoring Schmidt’s decision and signing laws that Schmidt had previously overturned.
• The laws were intended to block the implementation of decisions by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the High Representative himself in the territory of Republika Srpska, although both bodies had previously overturned similar parliamentary initiatives. At the time, Dodik was sentenced to a year in prison and a six-year ban on political activity.

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