President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik appointed Aleksandar Vulin, former director of the Security and Information Agency (BIA) of Serbia, as a member of the Senate of Republika Srpska.
The decision states that based on the Constitution of the Republika Srpska and the Law on the Senate, Vulin is appointed as a senator of the Republika Srpska from December 1.
This decision will be published in the Official Gazette of the RS.
Let us remind you that in July, the Ministry of Finance of the United States of America imposed sanctions on Vulin.
“Aleksandar Vulin is involved in transnational organized crime, illegal narcotics operations and abuse of public office. Vulin maintained a mutually beneficial relationship with Serbian arms dealer Slobodan Tešić, helping him to allow his illegal arms shipments to freely cross the border of Serbia,” the sanctions explained.
They also stated that Vulin’s actions promoted corruption in Serbian institutions.
Last month, Vulin resigned from that position and stated that he did so because he did not want to be “an occasion for blackmail and pressure on Serbia and the Serbian world.”
“The USA and the EU are looking for my head as a precondition for not imposing sanctions on Serbia. I am not the cause of blackmail and pressure on Serbia and the Serbian world, but I will not allow myself to be the occasion for blackmail and pressure on Serbia and the Serbian world. That is why I submit my irrevocable resignation from the position of BIA director “, said Vulin at the time.
The Senate of the Republika Srpska is the advisory body of the highest constitutional institutions of the Republika Srpska, and has up to 55 members.
At the session of April 4, 1997, the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska adopted the Law on the Senate of the Republika Srpska, according to which its members were appointed by the President of the Republika Srpska from the ranks of prominent personalities who significantly contributed to the national, public, scientific and cultural life of the Republika Srpska.
Senators have a mandate of 7 years, with the possibility of re-appointment. Senate sessions are convened and presided over by the President of the Republika Srpska.