Dodik lost his appeal — he was permanently removed from the post of President of Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik has officially lost his position after the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina rejected his defenseʼs appeal against a previous court decision to terminate his powers.

This is reported by the Serbian service of Radio Liberty.

The courtʼs decision is final. Now, according to the election law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Central Election Commission (CEC) is obliged to call early elections for the President of Republika Srpska, which must be held within 90 days.

Dodik will continue to serve as president until the general elections scheduled for October next year.

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 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 and traveled to Israel for a conference on anti-Semitism.

On March 27, a 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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