The political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is reaching a new level of tension after the convicted president of Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, signed a decree bringing into force unconstitutional laws banning the work of the Court, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) and the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) on the territory of the BiH entity RS, and these laws were published in the Official Gazette of RS. In the midst of this crisis, the citizens of Sarajevo were asked – are they worried?
One citizen believes it is not his job to worry: “Ah, nothing, there are people paid to think about that. I’m not going to stress about other people’s jobs.”
He did not show concern about the ban on the work of state judicial institutions in RS.
“I think there won’t be any incidents,” he said, emphasizing that he trusts state institutions.
Another citizen believes that the presence of international forces in BiH guarantees stability: “I’m not worried. As long as NATO and EUFOR are here, I’m not worried.”
However, he added that the responsibility also lies with domestic actors.
“Hopefully, the foreigners will react, but we need to react first,” he said, emphasizing that he is not afraid of any incident because citizens do not want war: “Whoever fought, fought – no one wants to fight again”
A third citizen expressed concern, especially for returnees in Srebrenica, Bratunac, and Zvornik.
“I feel most sorry for those people. How do they fall asleep at night after losing so much family in the war? I hope all this will be resolved peacefully because no one wants war,” he says.
He believes that Dodik is using the current political situation to destabilize the state: “He has nothing left to do, this is the only thing left – to cause trouble.”
When asked whether he trusts state institutions, he replies: “To be honest, I am deeply disappointed in the state institutions. That should have been resolved long ago, they literally let him (Dodik) do everything. Just the other day – the budget – supposedly Dodik came, the budget was adopted – it was adopted because he’s going to get 100 million for some building from his godfather… with our money, he’s financing this session where he wants to secede.”
However, some believe in the institutions and think they will react properly.
“I’m one hundred percent sure everything will be fine. The state will react as it should,” said one citizen, expressing confidence that there will be no serious incidents.
It should be recalled that the Court of BiH recently handed down a verdict sentencing Dodik to one year in prison and a ban on holding public office for six years due to his non-compliance with decisions of the High Representative in BiH. In the meantime, the Council of Ministers of BiH adopted a record state budget and a European law on the HJPC, but their further procedure in parliament remains uncertain, N1 writes.
