(Adnkronos) – The president of Republika Srpska, the Serbian entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik has been formally removed from office after being sentenced to one year in prison and six years of disqualification from public office. Dodik was found guilty of disobeying the decisions of the international envoy monitoring the Dayton peace accords, which ended the war that broke out in 1992 in 1995.
The electoral commission applied the law which states that an elected official is automatically forced to resign if sentenced to more than six months in prison, commission member Suad Arnautovic told reporters. He added, however, that it is still possible to appeal to the Bosnian State Court. Dodik’s lawyer, Goran Bubic, has already stated that further legal action will be taken after the latest ruling by the court of appeal.
Dodik, 66, head of Republika Srpska since 2006, had condemned the court’s ruling last Friday, calling it a “political” trial and a “blow” inflicted on the Serbian entity “orchestrated by the European Union”. (continues)
Bosnia has been divided between the Serbian and Bosnian-Croat entities since the 1992-95 war, which caused tens of thousands of deaths. It is held together by mixed central institutions.
Dodik was tried for approving two laws that prohibited the application in the Serbian entity of the decisions of the High International Representative and the Federal Constitutional Court of Bosnia.
Dodik rejects the authority of the international representative, currently Christian Schmidt, who took office in 2021. He defines the position held by the former German minister as “illegal” since his appointment was not approved by the United Nations Security Council.
