Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik called the verdict of the Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina a political decision and a direct blow to Republika Srpska.
After the Chamber upheld the first-instance verdict sentencing him to one year in prison and a six-year ban from holding public office, Dodik stressed that he was not prohibited from remaining president of the SNSD, and announced that he would return to the elections with a new platform after the ban expires, if they decide to do so.
– The Court of BiH is a political court, and this verdict is the result of the political will of Sarajevo and Muslim political structures – said Dodik, adding that everything that is happening is “an obvious intention to eliminate the Serbian political factor from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In his address, he called on citizens to remain calm, saying that “no gun will be fired” and that “the greatest force is the force of gathering”.
Dodik reiterated his position that High Representative Christian Schmidt does not have the legitimacy to make decisions, and that his actions are “the source of disorder in BiH”.
– Schmidt has made a decision to impose prison sentences on those who do not respect him. That is the essence of this process – said Dodik.
He announced that the institutions of Republika Srpska will take a position on the verdict, and that he will accept any decision of the National Assembly of RS. Dodik also asked for the support of Serbia, Russia and announced his address to the new American administration.
– This has nothing to do with democracy or law. This is an attempt by Muslim political structures to dominate Bosnia and Herzegovina, after They have, as they say, already eliminated the Croats, now they want to eliminate the Serbs – Dodik concluded.
SNSD Vice President and member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željka Cvijanović characterized the decision as political, but said that they have a solution.
She added that the SNSD was and will remain the strongest political organization and that they still have many political battles ahead of them that they intend to win.
President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Nenad Stevandić said that they will continue to win if they have the institutions and the people behind them.
The Court of BiH reminds that the first-instance verdict of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina found Milorad Dodik guilty of committing the criminal offense of failure to implement the decisions of the High Representative in BiH, for which he was sentenced to one year in prison.
Dodik was also given a security measure of banning him from holding the office of President of Republika Srpska for six years, from the date the verdict becomes final, with the time spent serving the prison sentence not being counted towards the duration of this security measure.
The accused acting director The first-instance verdict of the Official Gazette of the RS, Miloš Lukić, was acquitted of the charges that, by the actions described in the acquitting part of the operative part of the contested verdict, he committed the criminal offense of failure to implement the decisions of the High Representative.
