The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has lifted the detention of Milorad Dodik, the President of the Republika Srpska. The decision was made at the proposal of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after Milorad Dodik voluntarily appeared as a suspect in the criminal offense of attacking the constitutional order. The central arrest warrant, which was issued in March, after Dodik repeatedly failed to respond to the summons of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina for questioning, was also lifted. Milorad Dodik, while awaiting the second-instance verdict of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, no longer has to fear being detained. The opposition in Republika Srpska claims that Dodik has violated all decisions of the National Assembly of that entity. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they claim that Dodik recognized the state by coming to the Court.
Milorad Dodik appeared before the court that he has been saying for months that it does not recognize him and whose work, together with the work of the Prosecutor’s Office, has been characterized as unconstitutional for months. The result of Dodik’s appearance is the lifting of the detention measure. The court announced that the detention was lifted based on the proposal of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik was placed under a restraining order and ordered to report to the Laktaši Police Station every 15 days.
“You all know that this process was politically motivated and that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina are not provided for by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so my going there was also politically motivated,” Dodik said.
The opposition in the RS calls Dodik’s going to the Court a betrayal and surrender. They remind us of all the laws adopted in the RS National Assembly and claim that he will never appear before the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“For a year they kept us in a political show, for a year they convinced the Serbs that the RS and the RS National Assembly were strong enough to pass laws that the Court was not valid. And then he secretly flew over in a RS helicopter during the day, sneaked into the Court and admitted everything he had been denying for a year,” said the president of the PDP, Draško Stanivuković.
“He said he wouldn’t, that he didn’t recognize them, that he would oppose them, that he had the strength to defend himself. In fact, it was all just a cover and he was negotiating under the table,” says the president of the Justice and Order List, Nebojša Vukanović.
In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik’s arrival at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is seen as a victory for the state.
“What may not be good, and there is speculation, is that it has been agreed what the second-instance verdict will be. That is not right, we should all be equal before the law, that decisions are made in accordance with the law and that they cannot be commented on but implemented,” said the president of the SDP, Nermin Nikšić.
“It is a great thing that Dodik has finally recognized the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that he appeared voluntarily and that is a great victory for the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” emphasized the president of the SBB, Fahrudin Radončić.
“He trampled on himself and the conclusions of the RSNA, all those numerous sessions where he banned the work of the Court, the Prosecutor’s Office, SIPA, and then he made a deal with someone and bowed down to those institutions,” emphasized the president of NiP, Elmedin Konaković.
Everyone looks at things from the angle that suits them, says analyst Stefan Blagić. The fact that Dodik avoided both detention and arrest says a lot about how strong the state is, believes Blagić.
“It seems that Bosnia and Herzegovina no longer exists. It was extinguished by those who made this kind of agreement, that is more than obvious. The thesis that Dodik bowed down to the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court, that he recognized them, may be valid in part, but the essential thing is that a decision was suddenly changed and that the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina failed to implement the orders they themselves issued,” assesses analyst Stefan Blagić.
Milorad Dodik is currently awaiting a second-instance verdict in the trial before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for disrespecting the decisions of the High Representative. His detention was lifted after he simply appeared in court. Whether Dodik will have problems with the judiciary in Banja Luka due to the violation of the law passed by the RS National Assembly regarding cooperation with the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina is another question, Federalna writes.
