A new trial was held today in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the case against the President of the Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, after four postponements of the main trial.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not accept the request to rejoin the case of the Acting Director of the Official Gazette, Miloš Lukić, with the case of the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entity of RS Milorad Dodik, who were separated at the hearing on January 17, at which Lukić was not present because he was in the hospital.
Prosecutor Gordana Bosiljčić read the indictment in the courtroom. While she was reading the indictment, those present in the courtroom began to throw insults, after which Judge Sena Uzunović ordered the courtroom to be emptied and a curtain to be erected separating the courtroom from the people who followed the trial, among whom were Dodik’s associates, among others, members of the Presidency BiH Željka Cvijanović and RS Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic.
After those present left the courtroom, the trial continued with the opening statements of the Prosecution and the Defense.
Dodik repeated this time that this is a political process.
A new hearing is scheduled for March 6.
Judge Sena Uzunović took over the trial against Dodik today, instead of judge Mirsad Strike. In the trial schedule on the website of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is stated that the judge in charge of this proceeding is Uzunović.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina rejected the earlier requests of the defense of the President of the RS for the dismissal of Judge Strike, as well as for the dismissal of seven judges of this court. Subsequently, Strika himself decided to abandon this case.
Uzunović took office as a judge of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on August 8, 2022.
As stated in the indictment, Dodik and Lukić from July 1 to 9 of last year in Banja Luka, knowingly and knowing that the High Representative Christian Schmidt made a decision preventing the entry into force of the Law on non-application of decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH, undertook official actions in order to continue the legislative procedure.
Dodik’s defense claims that there is no criminal offense for which Dodik and Lukić are charged because Christian Schmidt is not a high representative because the appointment was not confirmed in the UN Security Council.
